David Fawcett, founder of homeless charity Happy Days UK, recently slept rough for a week on the streets of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire with only a ‘Rucksack 4 Homeless’ kit which was developed by a Happy Days UK resident and Sowerby Bridge Rotary.
Each night, David Fawcett was joined in sleeping rough by ten local leaders and relied only on the kindness of the people of Dewsbury who gave their food and money.
The sleep out was an overwhelming success, with David raising over £17,000.
Speaking to the Dewsbury Reporter, David said: “It is our goal to work with partners and to end homelessness locally, and Dewsbury is our next location to help get people off the streets and back into society.”
Dewsbury is the third permanent home of Happy Days UK, which was founded in Sowerby Bridge and has plans to expand to ten towns and cities across the UK.
Sowerby Bridge Rotary Past-President Hazel Brindle explaining ‘Rucksack 4 Homeless’ alongside Rotarian John Spencer.
David sleeps rough on a yearly basis to raise money for Happy Days UK and Sowerby Bridge Rotary have enjoyed a close relationship with his organisation where they have supported their needs for rucksacks.
Sowerby Bridge Rotary’s relationship with Happy Days UK started back in 2017 when David was a member of the club and brought then-President Hazel Brindle together with Colin – a resident of Happy Days’ supported housing projects who wanted to provide something back to the homeless community that he had been a part of.
Happy Days UK Founder David Fawcett.
Since Hazel and Colin launched the idea of the ‘Rucksack 4 Homeless’ kit, they have provided 120 of the rucksacks to the homeless people of Calderdale via local homelessness organisations.
Each year Sowerby Bridge Rotary raise money that they can use to put essential items in the rucksack such as sleeping bags, gloves, hats, wind-up torches, thermos flasks, toiletries and of course the rucksack itself which has the Rotary logo embroidered on it.
Feedback on the rucksacks has been extremely positive, including one photo sent in by a support worker with a homeless person hugging the rucksack and the caption to the photo being “this rucksack probably saved my life.”
Colin sadly passed away recently after a short illness. There will be an article that covers his achievements with Happy Days UK and Sowerby Bridge Rotary in the latest issue of Rotary Magazine.
