CityFibre + S.W.A.T January 20th 2017

A group of CityFibre colleagues in the London office partnered with S.W.A.T. (Sikh Welfare Awareness Team) for the second time on Thursday 23rd of January to feed at least 100 homeless people in central London. In the lead up to the night we asked people to bring in supplies such as chocolate bars, cereal bars, crisps, bottles of water and unwanted clothes or give money. We were delighted with the kindness people showed by donating what they could as well as raising enough money to buy food to feed the homeless people hot food on two evenings. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. In particular, a huge thanks goes to the following people:

• Justin, Angela, Emma and Kiran who were making up and giving out bags of snacks/drinks
• Candice who was serving hot food
• Sarah, Dan and Eleanor who were serving hot drinks
• Cara and Kate H who gave out clothes to people who desperately needed them

Some reflections from the night’s volunteers: Justin from the Legal Team: “It was quite an eye opener and a very humbling experience but seeing how appreciative they were and how much it made their day made the whole evening all the more worthwhile”. Cara from HR: “I was tasked with sorting and handing out clothes donated by CityFibre employees and although it was extremely rewarding meeting people and being able to help, it was equally disappointing having to tell people that had queued in the cold for nearly an hour simply to ask for a scarf, that we had run out. Most of the people we met asked for only one item (usually gloves or socks) and were so appreciative to receive something clean and warm. In some cases we had to encourage people to take more if they needed to and they were so grateful to get a jumper or a pair of jeans. I would urge everyone to bear this in mind and bring in anything they no longer need so that they can be donated to a good cause. Remember any old shoes as well as clothes!” Angela from the Finance Team: “It opened my eyes even more to the homelessness problem in our very immediate area. It felt good to contribute towards making their evening a bit nicer, they did seem really grateful.”