Two students from London School of Economics Athletics Union (LSEAU) teamed up with Raising and Giving to fundraise for national homelessness charities Crisis and St Mungo’s.
This was in an effort to help people experiencing homelessness have hot meals and a safe place to stay over the Christmas period.
Patrick Saving, 20, and Patrick Claxton, 20, on discovering that there were said to be 11,000 people experiencing homelessness in London this year, enrolled two teams of students to walk between 110 London underground stations on 6 December, one for each 100 people experiencing homelessness in the capital.
Patrick Saving said: “Homelessness in London is something that everyone who lives here sees every day and with winter about to hit, we were really keen to raise money to try to help get some individuals off the street.
“The work that Crisis do at Christmas particularly drew us to the charity as we think it is a great initiative that has a very emotive story behind it, yet still provides a training aspect that ensures it has the necessary long-term effects too.”
They hope to raise £2906, as Crisis estimated that it would cost £29.06 to get someone off the streets.
The pair aimed to get 100 people off the streets by multiplying this amount by 10.
In one day, each team covered a 35-mile radius, the distance of more than an entire marathon each.
They split into two teams, one which met at Stockwell the other which met at Mornington Crescent, at 6:45am.
They took a photo at each station and the two teams met up again at LSE campus at 9:30pm.
Saving added: “The 110 tube stops we chose to walk were because there are 11,000 homeless people in London, and I think that number was certainly a lot bigger than I expected.
“So, I hope this will help to raise awareness and inspire people to take part in some raising of their own.”
Raising and Giving at LSE has a long-term relationship with St Mungo’s.
Richard Lee, Fundraising Director at Crisis said: “We are so grateful to both Patricks and the members of LSEAU for their extraordinary efforts.
“We rely on wonderful fundraisers like them to be able to support people who have been forced onto the streets, into sofa surfing, or into a hostel with nowhere to call home and no-one to be with.
“With the support of LSEAU, we can give more people a Crisis Christmas and help them leave homelessness behind for good.”
St Mungo’s Head of Partnerships Jay Hunt said: “All at St Mungo’s would like to say a massive thank you and well done to both of the Patricks for taking on this brilliantly creative challenge.
“It’s thanks to the generosity of supporters such as them that St Mungo’s can continue in its efforts to end homelessness and rebuild lives.”
The pair have already raised £1521 of a £2906 target, which is to be split between Crisis and St Mungo’s.
Saving said: “Everyone was really keen and enthusiastic to get on board with the idea.
“Homelessness in London has increased over the last 18 months with all that’ than they would have been if Covid hadn’t struck.
There would probably be more support available to them.
“If people are able to help out, I encourage them to do it.
“If that number keeps going up it’s definitely a bad thing for London and the UK as a whole, and there’s definitely something we can do about it.”
Sponsor Patrick and Patrick here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lse-au
Photo credit: Patrick Saving and Patrick Claxton
