My Bag

Close

People Matter...So Let's Stop Walking Past!

Posted on May 26 2019

The results are staggering... 

150 million people worldwide do not have a home, they don’t have a bed, they can’t get up in the morning, make a cup of tea and they can’t go to the toilet when they need to.

Bedroom, Tea & Bathroom Scene

In the UK 0.5% of the population are homeless, this is 300,000 people! In some countries this goes up to an unbelievable 70% of the population!!! Like, oh my goodness can you imagine?

 Homeless Man With Dog

We're okay so why should we care? 

I’m saddened and sometimes surprised by how people treat the homeless, some won’t look or speak to them. Imagine being sat on the floor every day in the freezing cold staring at people’s feet as they walk past, you say 'hello', but no one acknowledges you?

What an awful way to live, most people ignore this because it’s hard to think about.

They’re not in that position, so why should they care?

 Homeless Poster

There are also views that they are there because they deserve it in some way, they’re drug addicts, alcoholics or just lazy and don’t want a job. Some might be one of these things, some might be all, I’m not sure, but I believe it’s easier than you think to end up in this position.

 

To get some research for this blog I typed in ‘homeless people’ and the first news article that came up on Google was ‘Thug sets two homeless people on fire in Argentina’, what the hell!!!!!???? I mean this was taken from the Daily Mail Online but you get the point...

Google Homeless Search

I can't do this on my own... 

I suppose this is where my interest for this cause came from, myself, my mum and my brother were close to this when my dad left, he left my mum only £200 in an envelope. We struggled for money and to be honest without the support from our extended family, which we are really grateful for, we could have ended up in a totally different situation.

What if we didn’t have a family that could have supported us?

No-one has a place to sleep 

My promise:

I’m not perfect and this blog isn’t to make you feel bad I promise.

I walk past the homeless, I rarely give money and only recently have made a conscious effort to smile and speak to them.

But it’s been hard because quite frankly I’m scared, scared of how they will react, scared of what they will say and scared of how I will feel.

 Have you ever felt invisible before?

But I’m going to try and push myself out of my comfort zone this June. Not only am I on the hunt to find charities to work with but personally I’m going to carry some £1 coins in my pocket every time I walk through a city.

I’m going to make a conscious effort to treat a human like a human, make eye contact, smile and give.  

 Anything Helps

I’m Natalie and I am the owner of Olive & Berry. We sell gorgeous dog interior, but we also want to make a change, follow us in this movement, help the cause and let’s stop walking past.

ALL people matter and ALL people deserve to turn their lives around.

We donate some of our profits for every sale we make and we’re working on creating some brilliant campaigns to tackle the above. I’m a big believer that dogs can increase happiness and give people a purpose in life, so maybe there’s a link up there!

 

Natalie, Olive & Berry 

If you feel the same I would love to hear from you OR if you have had any tough experiences that your 4 legged friend has helped you through, drop us an email at Team@oliveandberry.co.uk or tag us on Instagram @oliveandberryuk


Our products are pretty epic anyway but if you would like to help donate to this cause, you can find beautiful dog beds, leads, collars, bowls, treats & gifts at www.oliveandberry.co.uk 

Love Natalie, Olive & Berry xx

 
References
 
Wikipedia
Google
The Guardian
Big issue

Daily Mail Online