Meet the fresher running a charitable campaign for Cardiff’s homeless

When most people walk past a homeless person in the street they have a pang of guilt and turn the other way because the situation is so awful they can’t bare to face it. Jack Lish has decided to do something about it and is giving his all into helping the homeless people of Cardiff.

The University of South Wales student, has set up a campaign called Support The Street which is aiming to provide hampers for the homeless people of Cardiff.

Jack told the Tab: “This campaign is something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while. Every time I walk past a homeless person, I’ve thought to myself, I want to do something about this.

“I had the idea when I walk past people on the street, and don’t have any change to give them. I thought this campaign would help people donate to the homeless by card or online and would therefore appeal to people more.

“I made a Facebook page and messaged charity groups on Facebook asking if they could share the page. Everyone was really supportive and most of the donations are actually from people I’ve never met rather than just my friends and family.”

The 19-year-old invested his own money into boosting the Facebook page, which resulted in likes and shares and he has received messages from people asking if they can send cheque donations.

“People have been so generous, one guy who owned a printing company, contacted me and offered to print and deliver 1000 flyers to me – and he donated to the cause.

“I’m so shocked by it, I never really thought this was going to happen.

“I am in uni and in work everyday, so I knew I couldn’t have something full time. I’m managing it all fine though but ultimately, I don’t want it to be about me, the main idea is to get money for homeless people and get help where we can. There isn’t much you can actually do to get them off the street.”

With the help of his two friends, Sebastian Pearson and Connor Malone, Jack is planning to “give the homeless something they will need and use”. So his hampers are going to be rucksacks made up of sleeping bags, food packets, blankets and socks.

Jack said: “I really wanted to do this off my own back rather than giving the money to an already existing charity. It just seemed a more practical idea rather than putting it into a company with taxes and staff to pay. I thought it would be more practical to work to provide short term relief, that way, I would get a lot more done.”

At the moment the backpacks are looking to cost him £45 each and companies such as Go Outdoors have generously given him a 30 per cent discount card.

He is fine tuning details of how he is going to give out the backpacks but is hoping to do it in the run up to Christmas with his two close friends.

His campaign is snowballing in popularity proving that people do really care about the cause Support The Street, so much so that Jack will be appearing on ITV.

If you want to donate visit the campaign Facebook page and his crowd funding page.