1,000 parcels of Christmas care
CAFE OWNER HOPES TO HIT HER 1,000 CARE PACKAGE TARGET
A CAFé owner, inspired by a time when she was forced to live on the streets, has launched her annual campaign to help the homeless.
Carrianne Chapman, pictured, owner of Deli Bites café in Loughborough, is aiming to raise and distribute 1,000 care packages for homeless shelters across the county this Christmas.
She started the campaign in 2019, nine years after she was living rough.
A café owner has launched her annual campaign to help the homeless and has shared the heart-warming story of why she began helping four years ago.
Carrianne Chapman, owner of Deli Bites café in Loughborough, is aiming to raise and distribute 1,000 care packages for homeless shelters across the county this Christmas.
She started this campaign in 2019, two years after introducing a “pay it forward” scheme for the needy at her café.
However, the real story behind her efforts started in 2010, when she was 23 and living on the streets.
Carrianne spent a few weeks without a roof over her head and “just a black bag” full of a few belongings.
She says she was lucky to find shelter at a hostel, where she spent five months and met her fiancé, Theo.
Carrianne said: “It’s scary enough on the streets – for your own safety and your belongings. You can’t carry much as you’re always moving around and I could never get a wink of sleep.
“I just remember feeling invisible. I didn’t feel human.
“I’ll never forget going in the hostel. The hardest thing being homeless for me was being female and feeling unsafe. This shelter was full of blokes. But I got on with one of them, and I’m still with him 11 years later – we just got engaged this year.
“From the hostel, we stayed in one room, then a one-bed flat before I finally got a job. I worked really hard for the previous owner of the cafe and a year later she decided to sell so I took it off her hands.”
The 34-year-old said she had an epiphany shortly after taking over the café in Nottingham Road in 2012.
She said: “I’ve worked really hard to establish myself and get where I am now. But I’ll never forget that feeling of loneliness and isolation, especially during Christmas time.
“Not too long after I took over the café, a homeless man came in and asked me for some food. I realised I was now in a position to help others and actually do something to make a difference.
“There are many reasons why I decided to help, but the main one is because I know how it feels to be in that position. Christmas is all about family and being around your close ones and I remember that feeling of not having anyone around during the holidays. “Everyone deserves a present at Christmas – I know I would have loved one when I was homeless.” With a 1,000- package target set every year, Carrianne is determined to meet it.
She said: “We always give a target of a 1,000 care packages, but the first year we did it we only met half of that. But last year we got 824 packages to donate in total, and this year I’m hoping we beat that. I’m determined.”
The packages are made up of toiletries, hats, gloves, scarfs, socks, biscuits, hand sanitiser and other essentials and distributed to the vulnerable and homeless shelters and those on the streets.
“I have started appealing to the local community to help and asking people to make up a care package themselves,” she said.
“I have a lot of people on board and have already got care packages being dropped off. Businesses, care homes, care groups, youth groups are among those I already have on board and, of course, I’m aiming to make as many myself as I possibly can.
“I’ve been in contact with a few homeless shelters from here to Leicester and aim to give every person in there a care package. They’ll be wrapped up and given out as gifts for Christmas.
“Anyone that wants to help can make a package themselves, wrap it up and drop it off to the café.” The cut-off date for the packages is December 17, when Carrianne will load up her brother’s van and begin delivering the gifts to shelters.
She said: “They don’t know we’re coming, so it’s going to be the best surprise for them Christmas morning. I’m so excited.”
A GoFundMe page is at:
I just remember feeling invisible. I didn’t feel human. The hardest thing was being female and feeling unsafe
Carrianne Chapman