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I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that Christmas has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
As Christmas time approaches, we’ve noticed a lot on social media about people choosing to send donations to charity rather than exchanging Christmas cards/presents. Well, given that we love both charities and social media, we thought we’d give this one a go!
This year we’ve chosen to support the Medway Street Angels, a local charity that was started in 2016 and works tirelessly to support the homeless of Medway.
Our friendly neighbourhood Angels are volunteers who run several popular soup kitchens around Medway, as well as providing clothing and other necessities, and helping with life skills or even providing an address, so that those living on the streets can start to make their own way to a better life.
They say that every one of us can be as little as two pay cheques away from life on the street and, when you hear some of the heart breaking stories from these guys, you realise that every one of them is someone’s mother, father, sibling, child and friend. It’s an emotional experience and makes you feel an incredible sense of connection and empathy.
Suffice it to say that the Tinder team were really keen to help so, in addition to foregoing the gifts we normally give our clients and suppliers in favour of collecting essential items for donation, we decided to roll up our sleeves and hit the streets with the Angels, to see if a few lowly computer geeks really could make a difference.
A few of the goodies we got together for the Medway Street Angels
We decided on a two pronged attack, volunteering at the soup kitchen, but also taking part in vital outreach work and guess what? Despite the fact that our team are more used to dealing with USBs than soup ladles, we really do seem to be making a difference!
So much so that we want to keep going; collect more donations, volunteer more often and raise awareness on an ongoing basis.
That’s where you come in: if you’re reading this then we’re asking that you consider making a donation, either of food, clothing, money or your very valuable time. There are details below so you can either get in touch with us or call the Medway Street Angels directly for more details.
I can honestly say that the whole Tinder team is really looking forward to carrying on this amazing work into the New Year so I guess it’s true what they say: a slightly manic, tech obsessed, IT guy is for life, not just for Christmas…
…that is what they say isn’t it?