Help for people in need - from the homeless to expectant mums

The Hope Centre is a charity that I volunteer with in St Helens. I work at their homeless centre, which does great work providing free cooked breakfasts, hot showers, clothing, advice and much more. But the homeless centre is just part of their work. They also give out foodbank packages to struggling families, and Moses baskets filled with baby clothes, toys and toiletries to expectant mums, and run courses to help people with their self-confidence or equip them with basic IT skills to make them more employable.

Most of this happens because of the people who volunteer their time to cook, serve, sort, chat, make tea, and because of the public who generously donate food, clothes, sleeping bags, toiletries and more. But despite all this, the charity can't run without funding to keep the lights on, heat the buildings, pay the phone bill, maybe one day fix the leaky roof, and a hundred other things. And, unfortunately, we always seem to be just a few months away from running out of funding completely. We always hope it'll come from somewhere, and so far we've been lucky that it has, but we never know for sure. And that's why I'm on here asking you for money.

Because if the money runs out, it all stops, no matter how many volunteers we have lined up, no matter how many bags of clothes and tins of soup people give us. Meaning no warm place for homeless people to go and sit for a few hours and get a hot meal and a change of clothes. No food packages to help struggling families feed their kids. No help to make sure that young mums can give their babies a better start in life.

If you've come here through my Facebook or Twitter, you're probably not from St Helens, you might not even live in the UK. You don't know these people. But you know people like them. So if you agree with Depeche Mode that people are people, and you can see your way to making a donation, however small, before our luck runs out, I'll be ever grateful. And if you're feeling flush enough to click the 'regular donation' button and give the Hope Centre a little every month, I'll be doubly grateful.

And if you can't afford to give anything, maybe you would consider signing up to our charity search engine and shopping portal, which raises money for us every time you do an internet search or do some online shopping, without costing you a penny. You'll find that here: everyclick.com/thehopecentresthelens (Make it your home page!)

Thanks again if you're able to donate, but if not, thanks just for reading my waffle. I'll shut up now. Ta.