A CARE worker who experienced homelessness as a teenager is heading back onto the streets for one night as she hopes to raise funds for charity.
Emma Moxon, who is a manager at Eleanor Nursing and Social Care – based in Hemsworth, but covering Barnsley and Wakefield – spent a brief stint without a home when she was 14.
Now at 36, she refuses to forget the hardship she persevered through.
Along with friend Luke Brailsford – who leads men’s mental health groups – she has been handing out supplies to homeless people across Barnsley, Doncaster and Wakefield and on March 29 will be camping out on the streets in town centre as part of a fundraising appeal.
She said: “I decided I wanted to do my part for the community.
“I’ve been working with Luke and we’ve been going all over the place handing out sleeping bags, tents and whatever we’ve got.
“I experienced homelessness when I was younger, but those times were so different to how things are today.
“Speaking to people now I’m finding out that a lot of them are finding themselves in this position due to no fault of their own – they just need a bit of help to get back on their feet.”
Emma hopes to raise £1,000 to continue helping the homeless through her fundraising night, and intends to make her experience as ‘real’ as possible.
“It’s going to be good,” she added.
“It’s definitely going to be eye opening – I’ll see just how different times are to when I was a kid.
“These days you’ve got knife crime and all this different stuff – there’s a group of us going out so at least there’s safety in numbers.
“I’ll have my mobile on me because I want to go live every hour to update people on what’s going on, but everything else will be real.”
Luke Brailsford
