A co-founder of a homeless charity is sleeping rough to raise awareness and money for a fellow group helping the same vulnerable people.
Adam Dandy, 38, who owns Dandy’s Topsoil on Sealand Road , helped set up Chester ShareShop in Northgate Street.
The shop provides hot drinks to the homeless as well as raising funds for initiatives like their outreach van.
But Adam has a lot of time for long-established fellow homeless charity CATH (Chester Aid to The Homeless) so wanted to support its annual city centre sponsored sleep out on Friday, December 1, along with Share volunteer Claire Lawton.
Adam, from Backford , said: “The average life expectancy for a man living on the streets in the UK is just 47 years old, for a lady it’s only 43. Homelessness can affect any of us during our lives.
“A recent survey found that over 300,000 people are homeless in our country, 13,000 more than this time last year – something I find absolutely unacceptable in the year 2017, in one of the richest countries on earth. It’s about time the government doubled their efforts to tackle the causes of homelessness. When 13,000 become homeless in the last 12 months, the system is obviously broken.”
Adam, who will be donning several layers and a sleeping bag, knows giving up his warm bed for one night is ‘nothing’ compared with the experience of rough sleepers who are out every day in all weathers.
He attacks the rule which means homeless people deemed to have no local connection are only offered shelter if three consecutive nights of freezing temperatures are forecast although concedes the Cheshire West and Chester Council protocol is more generous. He says there are often good reasons people do not wish to return to where the authorities say they should go.
Adam says the issuing of dispersal notices by the police to move the homeless on is ‘just moving the problem’.
“It’s not a free country if you’re homeless,” comments the businessman, who also condemns the rollout of universal credit fearing it is ‘a disaster waiting to happen’.
While simplifying the welfare system sounds good in principle, he suspects homeless people, some of whom lead chaotic lives, could end up losing ‘everything’ if they fail to turn up for an appointment on time.
ShareShop Chester
Adam, who lives with wife Clare and their children Lewis, 11, and six-year-old Lauren, says his work with the homeless has changed his whole attitude.
“It’s not always their fault but they are all tarred with the same brush – ‘they’re all druggies, they’ve all got three bedroom houses and are making £300 a day begging’. It’s ridiculous. There may be a small number of people who take advantage of racegoers but to tar every homeless person in Chester is wrong.”
Adam, who accepts some people on the street do use drink and drugs to block out their pain, adds: “I used to feel threatened by people begging on the streets, asking for money. I would walk past then feel guilty but I didn’t know how to help. Having met lots of homeless people through the shop I can say that some of them are among the nicest people I have ever met in my life. They’ve got nothing but give stuff to each more readily than you or me even though we are in full time jobs.”
■ To sponsor Adam, click here .
