Christmas Day in the UK means no trains or other means of public transport.
Zero. Nothing.
It also means there are hundreds of railway stations that are going to be empty and could be put to good use.
For this reason, this year London's Euston station, one of the capital's busiest hubs, will be converted to a shelter for homeless people.
Volunteers from charities St Mungo's and Streets Kitchen will serve a festive meal for 200 homeless people, and will help setting up decorations, tables, and clearing away.
Around 30 volunteers from Network Rail will also work alongside them.
“Many people become homeless because of relationship breakdowns so Christmas can be a particularly lonely time for some of our residents,” said Beth Norden, community and events manager at St Mungo’s.
“Our thanks to Network Rail, their staff and volunteers, for helping some of our residents in Camden and neighbouring boroughs feel included in the community this Christmas Day.”
St Mungo’s provides a bed and support to more than 2,700 people a night across England, and Streets Kitchen is a grassroots organisation that feeds 1,000 people on the streets every week.
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Steve Naybour, head of transformation in Network Rail’s track team, said:
“Working on Christmas Day is pretty much par for the course for many of us who work for Network Rail but this year, because I wasn’t scheduled to work, myself and a handful of colleagues came up with this plan to feed some of London’s homeless instead.”
Stunning figures recently released by charity Shelter shows that more than 300,000 people in Britain, equivalent to one in 200, are recorded as homeless or living in adequate homes (temporary housing, bed and breakfast room, or hostels). In London, that number rises to one in every 59 people.
The initiative was generally well received on social media, but some people pointed out that more needs to be done throughout the year to solve the homelessness crisis in the country:
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Topics Activism Social Good
