Kimberley schoolgirl on solo mission to help the homeless this Christmas

Lilly-May Hopcroft-Beecham, who is just nine years old, smashed her charity efforts last Christmas when she set herself a challenge to donate at least ten gifts to boys and girls in need within the local area – and ended up with more than 80 gifts.

This year, the little fundraising superstar was determined to find another way to help those less fortunate than herself.

Following an eye-opening trip into Nottingham city centre, where Lilly-May noticed rough sleepers on the streets, she decided she wanted to focus on helping the homeless and is now single-handedly collecting donations of food for homeless charity and shelter Emmanuel House.

The kind-hearted youngster, who attends Kimberley Primary School, wrote about her charity mission in a letter, which she sent out to friends, family and her school to ask if they can spare donations.

She wrote: “Emmanuel House is an independent charity that supports people who are homeless, rough sleepers, in crisis or at risk of homelessness in Nottingham.

“My reason for choosing this is that I was truly surprised by the number of people that I personally saw one evening making their beds in doorways, on steps and at the side of buildings.

“I understand that many families are having to make cutbacks this year due to the UK’s financial difficulties. However, even the smallest of donations can help make a big difference to our community.”

The response has been immense so far, with the youngster accumulating tons of items to present to the charity at the start of December.

Lilly-May’s mum Tammy Hopcroft-Beecham said: “People have been extremely generous – even more than we expected with everything that’s going on this year.

“Everyone is feeling the pinch but at least we do have rooves over our heads, even if we are struggling.

“I can’t really put into words how proud I am of Lilly-May. It’s so nice to see her thinking about other people.

“She already has an idea about what she wants to do next year so I think this is definitely going to be an ongoing thing.”

Donations ideas include tinned foods such as beans and tuna; pasta and rice, instant coffee, tea bags, cordial, biscuits, crisps, noodle snacks, cereal, sugar, and toiletries such as deoderant and shaving foam.

Anyone wishing to contribute can drop items off at the Shianne Ambers School of Dance on Nottingham Road, Eastwood, after 4pm daily.