A woman who set up a coat exchange for the freezing homeless urges others to do the same

What a heart-warming gesture!

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by Emma Dodds |
Published on

A woman in Essex has started a genius trend to help the homeless this winter.

Fay Sibley, from Colchester, got together with some friends and took a clothing rack with 12 old, unwanted coats down to her local library for homeless people to help themselves.

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Fay originally left 12 coats with her mum, sister and friend on Saturday morning on a clothes dryer (Credit: Facebook/ Fay Sibley) ©Facebook/ Fay Sibley

Fay shared the photos on Facebook after they dropped the coats off on Saturday morning, and by Saturday afternoon there were 40 - along with two more rails that people had donated.

The original post has now been shared over 900 times.

Fay, 30, came up with the idea after seeing a post on Facebook of something similar that had been in Yorkshire. She said: "I saw the post and thought it was a wonderful idea. Another friend got in touch and said it looked great and it sparked from there."

The original the post that Faye found that inspired her and her friends.

Since the original post, Fay has received messages from people all over including Felixstowe, Chelmsford, Braintree, Milton Keynes - even Perth in Australia - saying that they would like to do the same thing in their own hometowns.

Fay, who is a paramedic, says: "I hope people take up the initiative and just go for it. Every day I walk to work and pass several people sleeping rough. I've always wanted to do something to help and I just felt this was something we could do that was simple but might help.

"I have had so many messages of support and encouragement. We have been completely overwhelmed by the response. We thought one or two would get behind it but we never expected so many people to donate as generously as they have!

"One lady told me she had done something similar back in 2014 and was really pleased to hear such a heart-warming story."

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By the time Fay went back on Saturday afternoon, two more rails had been donated along with a LOT more coats (Credit: Facebook/ Fay Sibley) ©Facebook/ Fay Sibley

Fay has also met people who have actually benefitted from the idea already: "I met a lady and gentleman living in a tent on Monday night - they wanted to pass on their gratitude to everyone who had donated. They said it made all the difference to them to have warm, dry clothing."

And the NHS employee also wants to encourage people to follow in her footsteps and set up their own local coat exchanges: "Just do it. Don't make excuses and put barriers in your way - just go for it. If it takes off, you might be able to help others and if it doesn't you've lost nothing except a few old coats you haven't worn in years."

Would you be encouraged to do something like this in your local area? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.

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