Action Hunger vending machines give sandwiches, fruit, energy bars, clean socks, toothbrushes and other daily necessities to the homeless who have been given a card by a local shelter.

Shopping centers in the U.K. are beginning to provide vending machines that offer free daily goods for the homeless. These vending machines do not accept cash, but locals who are struggling to survive and have recently stayed at a local shelter can pickup an Action Hunger card and use it free of charge at any vending machine.

“There is a critical need for access to food and clothing outside the capacity that shelters can offer,” Huzaifah Khaled the founder of Action Hunger said.

Action Hunger is a nonprofit organization that recognizes the needs of the homeless that exist outside of charity and shelter working hours. Many homeless shelters are often overbooked and only have staff during certain hours of the day.

“It requires the homeless to schedule their days around visits to the shelter, making it hard to hold a stable job or see family regularly,” Khaled said. “Our vending machines offer 24/7 access, so they can be used at a person’s convenience–and completely free of charge.”

Action Hunger has partnerships with many homeless nonprofits and charities who help in handing out the vending machine cards. With a card, a person can get three items each day, and to continue using it they must check-in each week at a partner organization. The idea is similar to the Free Pantry projects which have begun across the U.S., and while being only a temporary solution, they provide great relief and support to the most vulnerable members of our society.

Action Hunger reports that the streets are a dangerous place to live, and that homeless people are 17 times more likely to be a victim of violent crime than the general public. They also report that while the average U.K. citizen lives to 81 years old, the homeless have an average lifespan of only 47 years. The homeless are also 35 times more likely to commit suicide than the average person. After seeing all of these statistics put together, those with compassionate hearts have been moved to action in a great effort to help the homeless.

“The idea is that users don’t become dependent on the machines, and are working towards a long-term plan for getting off the streets,” Khaled says. “I want our low-cost vending machines to complement other existing services, as I believe continued engagement with local services is key to ending the cycle of homelessness, and linking the use of our cards to continued engagement with these services is a way I believe we can ensure that. It will ensure contact is sustained, and hopefully for long enough for their homelessness to be curbed altogether.”

Khaled was inspired to create the Action Hunger vending machines while he was completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He witnessed many of the homeless struggling to survive on his daily commute on the trains, and often times he befriended them. “I always stopped to talk, often with a coffee or meal in hand,” he said. “I developed an acute understanding of their needs, and learned that even access to basic necessities like food and water was sporadic and oftentimes cumbersome… I realized that there had to be a more effective way of at least ensuring the bare necessities were always available.”

Khaled began writing to numerous vending machine manufacturers and N&W Global decided to donate Action Hunger’s first machine. After this, a businessman donated another 100 machines, and volunteers help to restock the machines by using food rescued and donated from local restaurants. UberEats is also stepping up in partnership, and will soon be able to allow requests to be made through an app to refill the machines, while UberEats makes the deliveries.

Action Hunger is expanding to the U.S. in February with its first vending machine going up in New York, and they have plans to expand to San Francisco, Seattle and also Los Angeles.

“The immediate benefit of our vending machines is that they satiate hunger and provide nourishment to the most vulnerable members of society. They permit access to food and clothing free of charge at any hour — without requiring anyone to be left without aid outside the operating hours of the various charities and shelters that are available. Our machines are also very inexpensive and economical to run, as we don’t have the attendant costs of running a physical premises, and the automated nature of the machines supplant the need for many staff — a bank of volunteers manage the day-to-day operation. Furthermore, at a time when government cuts in funding for local councils has decimated lots of the resources available, and had debilitating effects on those services that do remain, our machines serve as a novel solution.” Action Hunger writes on their website.

“If 40,000 people were prevented from becoming homeless for one year in England it would save the public purse £370 million.”

If inspired, you can support Action Hunger here.

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.”
~Mother Teresa

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
~Mother Teresa

“Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”
~Mother Teresa

You are Loved.

A passenger witnessed a beautiful act of love while riding the train: a kind young man gave a suffering homeless person his own brand new boots that he himself was wearing.

The homeless man was believed to be riding the train to stay warm during the cold, and as he warmed his feet from potential frostbite, passengers could see he was bleeding through his socks.

Jessica Bell was riding the train and sitting nearby the homeless man.

“So, I’m headed home on the CTA Redline and there’s a homeless man sitting across from me. He’s older, weathered, minding his own business. His feet are so swollen he’s wearing the tattered gym shoes he has with the back folded down; like slip-ons. I don’t know how many pairs of socks he’s wearing in an attempt to keep his feet warm but there is blood seeping through,” Jessica shared.

As Jessica was noticing the sad condition of the cold homeless man, a young man nearby approached him.

“There’s another man on the other side of the doors; younger, carrying a satchel and a suitcase, also minding his own business. He’s wearing a pair of big black snow boots. They look new; they look expensive; they’re built for a Chicago winter. Quietly, in a blink and you’ll miss it fashion, the younger man takes off the boots he’s wearing and passes them to the old man. He opens his suitcase and gives him a pair of socks as well.”

“The young man puts on a spare pair of shoes from the suitcase. These shoes are nice too, but not as nice as the boots. They would have fit the old man just as well, but they were not what this old man needed.”

“He tells the old man to try and clean his feet and to make sure he changes into the new socks as soon as he can and then the young man gets off at 87th.”

“Those of us who are close enough to see and hear the exchange are floored.”

“The shoes off his feet.”

“I love that in a time and place where hate and apathy are rampant, quiet compassion appears without warning.
I pray that we all are compelled to do similar.
I pray that we all allow empathy to invoke action.
I pray that we never forget that we have always had the power to be a blessing.
I’m inspired to continue to try to ‘be the change’ and I pray you are too.”

The media later discovered that the man’s name is Maurice Anderson, an elevator technician, and when interviewed, he said;

“He was bleeding through his socks, so my gut said take [my shoes] off, ask him what size shoe he wears,” Maurice said. “He said 12, I’m a 12 as well. He was overjoyed.”

“I didn’t even realize I was being recorded or photographed,” Maurice admitted.

The shoes were only three weeks old and had been barely worn.

Jessica, who witnessed this beautiful moment, shared her thoughts with us at Understanding Compassion;

“I think it’s important for people to remember that we all have the power to meet someone’s needs, and that all we have to do is act. A pair of shoes or a box of tampons won’t end poverty or solve homelessness, but when we offer our resources in pursuit of economic justice, it allows an impoverished person to divert the resources they have to something else that they need.” Jessica said. “Chicago is an amazing city, and its people are amazing.”

If you have extra clothes or goods that are unused and you think could benefit someone in need, consider giving them to a charity in your area this week.

“Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment, we rise above ourselves.”

You are Loved.

See Also: Kind Young Woman Buys Ignored Homeless Veteran A Meal And Restores His Faith In Humanity

 

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Even though Prince prepared no will and left no heirs to his gigantic music estate, his beautiful heart left behind a legacy of compassionate giving to thousands of grateful people who he helped.

Ever since Prince passed, his friends and loved ones are making sure that people know about the wonderful humanitarian work he quietly engaged in, and how he used large amounts of his wealth to benefit others and beautiful causes around the world. It seems that charity was always in his heart, as tax records show that Prince created and funded the majority of the ‘Love 4 One Another’ charity which has donated millions of dollars to schools, homeless shelters and community programs in over nine states. His entire world tour in 1997 was created to fund this charity.




Prince also helped fund the charity ‘Rebuild the Dream’ led by former White House advisor Van Jones which helps with issues such as social and economic inequality, climate change and reducing environmental pollution, as well as working to reduce the disproportionate number of African Americans unfairly sent to privately owned prisons. Prince used his concerts to raise money for the organization, to raise awareness for green energy solutions and to start the conversation for relieving America’s massive student loan debt.

“There are people who have solar panels on their houses in Oakland, California that Prince paid for and they don’t even know it,” Jones told CNN in an interview after Prince’s passing. Prince also helped Jones to create the YesWeCode initiative which set out to educate and train 100,000 low-income youths on how to code and write computer programs. Prince’s primary motivation for this cause was to, “teach black kids how to be like Mark Zuckerberg.”

Prince’s longtime friend Jones said the artist made countless other contributions to charity and to people who had been hospitalized but were unable to afford treatment, yet he kept his donations quiet and often remained an anonymous donor. He also gave numerous deaf and blind students free tickets to his concerts, and he was known to randomly appear in public schools to encourage and motivate students to succeed.

“Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.”
~Prince

Prince’s compassionate heart shows us how beautiful helping others can be, and even though the mega star is no longer with us, his acts of compassion will live forever.

You are Loved.

 

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After a power outage at the Noon Day Center, officer Tamas Nadas noticed that there were still people waiting outside, and that they would be unable to get food for themselves that day.

Tamas then went to the local McDonalds, where he bought 20 breakfast burritos and 20 apple juices with his own money, and drove back to the day center to feed the homeless who were hungry.




His fellow officer was unaware of what Tamas was doing, but after he saw him return with food for the homeless, he decided to take a picture so that their department could recognize his act of kindness.

“There was no food, no drinks, nothing. So I decided to go to McDonalds and grabbed some food and drinks for them. That’s pretty much it,” Tamas said when he was later asked.

Those who were hungry were truly grateful that the officer went out of his way to help them.

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The life of a homeless person is very difficult, more than we can imagine. High percentages of the homeless suffer from mental illness and are unable to maintain a steady job, and they are often discriminated against by society.

There are also a large percentage of American military veterans who become homeless, largely due to developing PTSD after returning home from having experienced extremely stressful and life-threatening war situations.

It can be easy to look at a homeless person and say, “they should get a job,” or, “they are being lazy,” yet the people who actually know and work with these disadvantaged and truly lovable human beings are officers like Tamas Nadas.

They understand that being homeless is not something the homeless want. It is the result of a very, very difficult life, and difficult circumstances which are not something most of us have or will ever experience.

Understanding another’s situation helps us to develop compassion in our own hearts, because we can understand that if we had been given their life; their childhood, their experiences, their mental illnesses, we would most likely also be living the same life that they are living now.

Be willing to extend a hand to help one of these disadvantaged brothers and sisters of ours. Your kindness will surely never be forgotten.