Aberdeen volunteers will host a special breakfast gathering on the streets of the city to make sure homeless people don’t go hungry on Christmas Day.
Street Friends Helping the Homeless will run a festive breakfast on December 25 and on New Year’s Day from 9.30am to 11.30am.
The group is hoping to reach people who will be feeling lonely and isolated on the day.
Communications secretary Sam Raion said the sessions will run within Covid-19 guidelines.
“We will have volunteers speaking to people and befriending on the day as it is a time of very high stress for some and many will be feeling isolated,” he said.
“It will be the same set-up as our usual outreach but we have also been running a Shoebox Appeal so we are hoping to gift people with stuff they wouldn’t normally get.
“This will be a small amount of items so its not too much to carry – just something nice for them.”
To brighten the day for people who would otherwise be alone and isolated, the team is planning to have a small number of singers at the session.
On New Year’s Day the initiative will be the same but there are plans for a lone piper instead.
Bradley McAllister and his friends Kurtis Williams and Jamie Harper came up with the initiative after becoming involved with Street Friends through their football team Westend FC.
Mr McAllister said he was pleased they were able to raise money for such a “worthwhile cause”.
As well as the two special outreach sessions, the group has launched a December initiative supporting the homeless community.
With the usual sessions running on Wednesday and Sunday nights, the team will also be walking around the city Monday to Saturday between 8am-1pm.
Mr Raion said the project was needed to speak to people on the streets struggling with isolation and homelessness during the day.
He added: “There’s a lot of people sitting out on the street at that time of the day so we will have befrienders going out with trolleys of essentials and hot drinks.
“There are people out there needing our help and it will be nice to have a chat with them.”
Last month, a Muslim group teamed up with the charity to serve up curry on cold winter nights.
Aberdeen Muslims attended a Street Friends Helping The Homeless outreach session for the first time at the start of November.
Both groups gathered outside of the M&S on St Nicholas Street from 6pm as a lengthy queue of those in need formed.
Those in attendance made their way down a production line, first collecting food parcels and toiletries before they got to the “food box” tent and received a hot chicken or vegetarian curry.
