Star date: 4th November 2017

SOCKS ARE JUST THE START AS UNEMPLOYED CENTRE CALLS ON SALFORD COUNCIL TO OPEN LANCASTRIAN HALL FOR HOMELESS

Yesterday, Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre (SUCRC) in Eccles took delivery of 800 pairs of socks donated by Calvin Klein, and representatives from around half a dozen organisations made sure they were immediately distributed to the homeless.

Calling on other retailers to donate items, SUCRC manager, Alec McFadden, insisted that Salford City Council open up the empty Lancastrian Hall in Swinton for use by the homeless this winter.

Full details here...

'You cannot live in a sock, you need a house...'

Posh retailer, Calvin Klein, has donated eight hundred pairs of top quality socks for use by the homeless this winter. And, yesterday, representatives from organisations including the Salford Prison Project, Joint Veteran Alliance, Street Support Salford, Narrowgate, TDB CIC training, Salford Unite Community Branch and Salford TUC met at Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre (SUCRC) Breakfast Club to pick up the socks for distribution.

The donation came about after SURC administrator, Donna Kempshall, put a call out on Facebook for help... "An old friend of mine got in touch and said he worked for Calvin Klein and they kindly donated eight hundred pairs of socks" she explained.

Now the Eccles Centre, which runs a breakfast club for around ninety people, wants other organisations to get involved...

"There's people out there with no socks on their feet, and the weather's getting colder every day" said SUCRC manager, Alec McFadden "If Calvin Klein can do this why can't others organisations and shops do it? We congratulate Calvin Klein but we say to other organisations, like Adidas, Go Outdoors and JD Sports, 'We want you to supply us with waterproofs, more sleeping bags, shoes and boots, and pop up tents'...

"...But what we say to the councils and Government is that what we need is houses, these are only temporary measures and the situation is an absolute disgrace" he added "You cannot live in a sock, you need a house...And this is the time to unleash the idea that the late councillor Paul Longshaw floated about using Lancastrian Hall which has been empty for over ten years.

"The Council has said it's full of asbestos but it should make space and do the repairs so we get homeless people off the streets this winter by 25th December" he insisted "We have loads of unemployed and retired building workers in Salford who would come and do a job."

Meanwhile, the Calvin Klein socks were immediately distributed to the homeless in Salford and Manchester...

Main photo shows SURC's Donna Kempshall and Alec McFadden, with Angela Barratt from Salford and Manchester Street Support