Volunteers handed out food donations to homeless people around Croydon. Pic: Wikimedia Commons

Croydon homeless people were fed by 12 volunteers last week after a Twitter appeal for donations.

Kingston Hub, a student led volunteering group from Kingston University in south-west London, tweeted asking for donations. This prompted a response from Matthews Yard, a  Croydon café, who offered its café and community space to help collect donations.

“Check out Croydon – uniting for a good cause thanks to Twitter!” Matthew’s Yard tweeted.

Kingston Hub’s support officer, Sonia Kumari said: “I organised this as part of student volunteering week. We had decided to do this but the first opportunity fell through, so we were left with no food to give!”

“I reached out to Matthew’s Yard on twitter and within a day they, and other small/medium enterprises in Croydon, had gathered food for us!”

The 12 student volunteers set off at 1pm last Wednesday to distribute the food donations to homeless people around Croydon.

Kumari said: “The response on twitter was amazing. It really showed the power of the community to kick start social change.”

Kingston Hub tweeted their success story. Pic: @kingstonhub on Twitter

The event was run in connection to Student Volunteer Week 2016 (SVW2016) from February 22 to 28. It is a week where students, universities, charities and business collaborate to help make a difference in their communities.

“Today we’re in Croydon, giving food to the homeless. This is what #SVW2016 is all about.” Kingston hub tweeted last Wednesday.

Toe Nay Win, Kingston Hub’s president said: “It as an amazing and emotional experience to be in the field with people who deal with homelessness in person…I’m proud of our team and the Kingston Hub committee.”