Good Good Good · 16 hours ago

Uk Poets Pen 100 Poems on Homelessness to Support Community

When Andrew Mears looked at the homelessness crisis surrounding him in North East England, he turned to the tool he knew best - language. He recruited 100 poets to write 100 poems, self-published the anthology "Words on a NE Street," and by Christmas had raised £4,200 for a local shelter serving his unhoused neighbors. What the project did beyond raising funds, though, was harder to measure: as the shelter's Ruth Parker described, "the kindness and compassion they have shown gives optimism to the companions, making them feel more positive about their future and being part of a community that cares." Mears is clear about his deeper intention - "for me, it's about getting homelessness in conversations" - understanding that visibility is its own form of shelter. He now hopes poets across England will carry the model forward, city by city, street by street, as if goodness itself were a form worth replicating.