Maidstone's Street Pastors tell us how they are using their Christmas donations

KentOnline / KMTV

Nigel Downes from the street pastors joins us now to tell us more about the donations.

Transcript

00:00Hello, Nigel. So, thank you.

00:03Good evening. Nice to see you.

00:05Yes, thank you so much for joining us this evening.

00:07Now, I believe you've helped the appeal before,

00:09but can you tell us about when the street pastors first got involved?

00:14Yeah, I think, as Henry said, it was three years ago

00:17that the Maidstone Mall started doing this,

00:20and we got involved then.

00:22And I would just like to point out,

00:25yes, the donations were down,

00:27but that's because this year the hub was only open for two weeks,

00:32whereas previously it's been open for about four weeks,

00:35so there's been sort of less time to get stuff in.

00:38And, I mean, what was it like in comparison to last year?

00:41Obviously, it was open for a shorter amount of time,

00:44but you did receive a lot of donations in the end.

00:47I mean, maybe you didn't expect that amount.

00:50Yeah, it's really humbling to see people coming in,

00:55not just with one gift, but, you know, with several gifts.

01:00We were quite specific in what we need

01:02or what we was asking for

01:04because of people that we deal with in town on a Saturday night.

01:09You saw there things like the hot snacks,

01:12the street population that we meet.

01:15Yeah, we give them those pot noodles

01:17or cuppa soups and things to help them.

01:20But, alternatively, with the night-time economy,

01:24with the people that we meet that are out drinking, clubbing,

01:28we have things like bottled water and sick bags

01:31to help freshen them up

01:32if they've been a little bit unwell,

01:34if they've overindulged.

01:37And why are the donations so important,

01:41particularly at this time of year?

01:42Well, for us, well, for all charities,

01:48you know, it's really hard at the moment.

01:52And it's really, I say, humbling

01:55that people do give their time and their money to help us.

01:58I must have had, I don't know,

02:01two, three hundred pot noodles and cuppa soups come in

02:03and 50-odd bottles of water.

02:07And I say, those are things that we use

02:08when we're out in town every Saturday night.

02:11So, to us, it's really beneficial.

02:15And tell us about the origins of the Street Pastures

02:18and how did it start?

02:20And, I mean, was this always the intention

02:22to kind of hand out these kinds of things

02:24to those vulnerable people?

02:27Yeah, Street Pastures itself

02:28has been running for almost 20 years now.

02:32And Maidstone was actually the first town in Kent

02:34back in 2008 to have Street Pastures.

02:38And here we are still going.

02:41Quite sort of jokingly, people often say,

02:44oh, yeah, you're those people

02:45that give out those flip-flops, aren't you?

02:48Yeah, we do.

02:49Because if ladies have lost their shoes or can't walk,

02:53we don't want them walking about in town barefoot

02:56because there's broken glass, there's bodily fluids.

03:02So, yeah, that's what we're sort of quite well known for.

03:05And we are there just to look after the night-time economy.

03:09It's not stopping people having fun.

03:10We want people to have fun.

03:12But we try to make sure they do it in a safe way.

03:15And if they need help from us,

03:17then we'll be there for them.

03:19Of course.

03:19And obviously, it's very important

03:20that you are there to support those people

03:22who need your help at the time.

03:24And although the donation hub is now over,

03:28people can still donate to your page directly.

03:31Is that correct?

03:33Yes.

03:34I mean, like most places,

03:35we have a website where donations can be made,

03:39either goods or monies.

03:42All charities will be really struggling now.

03:45But, yes, if people want to help,

03:48they certainly can,

03:49and we'd appreciate that.

03:51All right.

03:51Thank you so much, Nigel.

03:53And best of luck for the Christmas period.

03:54Thank you so much, Nigel.

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