The team at The Oval Tavern in East Croydon is joining forces with the Green Party to support homeless people in Croydon.
Esther Sutton and Peter Underwood load up the cargo bike with donations for Croydon’s homeless
They have set up an appeal for food, toiletries, warm clothing and sleeping bags.
The donations will be given to Nightwatch, who meet with homeless people every night in central Croydon, and to Crisis Skylight Croydon, who support people to move on from being homeless.
Esther Sutton, the landlady of the Oval Tavern, said: “Every year we normally hold pancake races at the pub to raise funds for Nightwatch. We obviously weren’t able to do that this year, but we still wanted to help out in some way.
“Our regulars may not yet be able to come inside the pub, but they have been great at bringing us donations.”
Peter Underwood, Green Party candidate in the upcoming London Assembly elections, said: “As someone who was homeless in my youth, this cause has always been close to my heart. As a party we want to change things through getting more of us elected but we know there is an immediate need and so our members have been glad to pitch in with donations to help out.”
There are thousands of homeless people in Croydon and hundreds of people have slept rough in the last year. Although there was increased support for the homeless during the first lockdown, this hasn’t been repeated and they have struggled even more to find help and support since then.
If you would like to help, Nightwatch needs canned and packet food plus toiletries. Crisis Skylight Croydon needs tracksuit bottoms, boxer shorts, thermal socks and sleeping bags.
All donations can be left at The Oval Tavern, 131 Oval Road, CR0 6BR.
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