'I was homeless at Christmas but kindness saved me'

"I felt that warmth again through that cold and I tell you what, the coffee's brilliant."

Emily, who is 36, ended up living on the streets in June 2020 after her father died - and has credited a cafe with changing her life.

Palmers of Shrewsbury runs a pay-it-forward scheme allowing people to donate to give someone in need a free meal.

"I found myself again," Emily said, adding: "The kindness and everything - you wouldn't believe it."

Living on the streets, Emily said the freezing temperatures and her grief saw her turn to alcohol, adding that the vodka "numbed" her to the cold.

"There's nothing worse than being cold - but there's nothing worse than being cold and wet and not being able to get dry," she said.

The nighttime was "horrible", Emily continued: "There's a certain type of cold that you can't explain."

"But despite it being cold - and as cheesy as this sounds - there was a lot of warmth from people and from places I could go into."

One of those places was Palmers of Shrewsbury, a cafe inside a Baptist church that runs a pay-it-forward scheme allowing the public to buy food and a drink for those in need.

"For me, that was pivotal," Emily said, adding that the staff did not make her feel "embarrassed" or "stupid."

"I felt that warmth again through the cold."

Ruth Cataldo is one of the team leaders at Palmers, and said the cafe has "built relationships" with those who rely on them.

"We always say we're here to listen, and we try and link them up with other resources with the council," she added.

Mrs Cataldo said staff will even help fill out council forms for homeless and vulnerable people so they can "support them as much as possible."

She added that the pay-it-forward scheme is popular with other customers, as they know their donations will be "going exactly where it is needed."

Emily spent Christmas Day in 2020 on the streets in Shrewsbury - and said the community in the Shropshire town is "full of so much kindness."

"People came up to me and gave me presents - it sounds silly, but that [...] kept me going."

A few days after Christmas, the local authority offered Emily a place in a hotel - the appropriately-named St. Nicholas Hotel.

"In a way, the universe worked it out for me," she said.

Whilst living in the hotel, Emily began volunteering at Palmers.

She said the staff there "didn't see me for that homeless street person, or someone who was battling alcohol and grief", but instead "saw me as a person."

"Even now the thought of it makes me have goose-pimples," Emily said, adding that "being believed in was what made me be able to survive."

Emily now has somewhere more permanent to live and said: "People say home is where the heart is - I didn't have a home, but my heart was around these people and the community in Shrewsbury."

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