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This is an example of the care kits that we provided to local homeless shelters. If you'd like to make your own you can add as little or as much as you like just using items from around your home. You can either bring the zip-locked items into a local shelter or provide them to directly to individuals living on the street.

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When you donate at local charities not only do you provide clothing for others, but many facilities give out promotions to encourage more donations. Value Villages provides a 30% off coupon for every bag that is brought in to their store.

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Take part in your community by volunteering at a local soup kitchen. We chose St. Vincent's kitchen in Oshawa Ontario (https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Vincents-Kitchen/127084783995620)

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This is a brochure of a summary of all the information and sources we wanted to provide others in our community as well as information pertaining to our organization.

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This paragraph provides our connection to poverty through a functionalists perspective.

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Homelessness and Poverty – A Sociological Perspective

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One warm coat foundation helps provide coats to the homeless during the cold winter months. You can visit their website to find out how you can donation and volunteer opportunities.

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Thank you for your interest in donating a coat for someone in need!

You can use the map below to search for active coat drives in your area that are accepting new and gently worn/ready-to-wear coats.

Please note: most coat drives are held in the Fall and Winter months. During the Spring and Summer months, you can reach out to one of our registered nonprofit agency partners in your community to see if they can accept coats by using our Agency Locator Map.

If you are a retailer or manufacturer looking to make a bulk donation of coats, please click here.
A note to current Ambassadors: You can find your personal coat drive page by searching for your coat drive in the map below. You can also find a link to your personal coat drive page in the welcome email you received when you registered.

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Thank you for your interest in donating a coat for someone in need! You can use the map below to search for active coat drives in your area that are accepting new and gently worn/ready-to-wear coats. Please note: most coat drives are held in the Fall and Winter months.

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This interactive game allows players to live as a farmer in Haiti living in poverty. This simulation helps depict how difficult life can become once you fall below the poverty line. This has proven to be so challenging that few defeat it

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TakingITGlobal - TIGed - Ayiti - Play the Game

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Are you an Educator? Click here to switch to TIGed.org

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This volunteer organization helps provide and build homes for individual's living in poverty. The website provides information on how you can become involved and make a difference in your community.

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Raising the Roof is a national charity dedicated to long-term solutions to homelessness. Find out more about our work and how you can get involved.

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This article provides information of how individual's can make the most impact in the homeless community. It also address's stigmas and prejudice surrounding those living in poverty.

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The sleeping bags that line UK towns and cities seem ever more visible as Christmas approaches, prompting many people to reach out during the season of goodwill. But what about the rest of the year?

Homeless charity Crisis works to help rough sleepers over the Christmas period but stresses that help is needed all year around, while fellow charity Shelter estimates more than 250,000 people are homeless in England and in need of support.

Here are five practical ways you can make a difference.

1. Alert the professionals

Shoppers and commuters pass by homeless people day after day but many may feel they do not know how to help. One of the simplest ways is to tell a professional.

Street Link is a government-funded service which allows people to alert local authorities in England and Wales about rough sleepers in need of support in their area.

"With the public's help, in the last 12 months we have put almost 11,000 people in touch with the support they needed to escape rough sleeping," says director Matt Harrison.

"We hope to have an even greater impact in 2017."

You can pick up the phone or use Street Link's website or app to enter details of the location, time and date you saw the person and any other information you have.

The service will contact professionals who will try to find them and help them access things like shelter and food.

2. Give time, not money

When someone on the street asks for money some give instinctively, while others struggle with what it might be spent on. For Rik James, who previously slept rough, money is not the answer.

"If they ask for money it's for one of two things - drugs or alcohol," says Mr James, who runs Birmingham Homeless Outreach.

"Offer them food and if they don't take it they don't need it."

It's his view that if a homeless person spends money on drugs then the person who gave them the cash is party to the substance abuse.

"Just come out with food and hot drinks," he adds. "Give them five minutes of your time, talk to them.

"I go out seven days a week with clothes and bedding. If you give them sleeping bags they just sell them."

3. Or give small things

If you choose not to give money to homeless people there are others things you can give to make a difference to their day.

"A lot of people doing a little is better than a few people doing a lot", is the motto of former armed serviceman Ian Northcott.

He founded Socks&Chocs in 2010 to collect warm and dry socks and chocolate for people on the streets of Birmingham.

When Mr Northcott was a soldier he often spent days in the field, tired, cold and wet. The Army insisted he put on a pair of clean, dry socks each day.

Mr Northcott says he did not realise the importance at first, but the simple pleasure of a warm pair of socks made a great deal of difference.

His charity aims to give the same feeling to homeless people struggling in the cold, along with chocolate to give them a boost.

This year the charity has given out 6,274 pairs of socks and 4,713 boxes of chocolate.

Other gift ideas which could make a difference include hand warmers, gloves, hats and books.

4. Remember furry friends

A four-legged friend can be some rough sleepers' only companion - and both owner and pet may be grateful of a kind gesture.

"If people want to help [a homeless person] with a dog by buying them some dog food, then we're sure it would always be appreciated," says Clare Kivlehan, head of outreach projects at The Dog's Trust.

She says the public could also put rough sleepers in touch with the charity's Hope Project, which provides free and subsidised veterinary treatment to dogs whose owners are homeless or in housing crisis.

The project also works with hostels and housing providers to encourage them to accept clients with dogs.

Ms Kivlehan adds: "Each year [the Hope Project] funds around 1,800 veterinary treatments to help dogs remain with their devoted owners... There are now over 150 dog friendly hostels nationwide."

5. Remember the 'hidden homeless'

When rough sleepers line the streets, their plight is painfully visible. But Roger Harding, campaign director at homeless charity Shelter, says there are many, many more people whose struggles are hidden.

"This Christmas, 120,000 children in Britain will be homeless," says Mr Harding. "Hidden away in hostels; sharing kitchens and bathrooms with strangers. Sharing a bedroom with the rest of their family."

He says people could encourage those at risk of losing their homes to call their helpline, which is open 365 days a year for advice and support.

The government's Homelessness Reduction Bill introduced in October places a duty on local authorities to help eligible people secure somewhere to live 56 days before they are threatened with homelessness.

Councils must also provide those who do find themselves homeless with support for another 56 days to help to secure accommodation.

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The sleeping bags that line UK towns and cities seem ever more visible as Christmas approaches, prompting many people to reach out during the season of goodwill. But what about the rest of the year?

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This website provides any information an individual experiencing homelessness or anyone wanting to make a difference may need.

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This website provides local sources in Durham that provide food and meals for individual's in poverty. While navigating the site you can find various local volunteer organizations as well as their addresses, contact numbers, and any other useful information.

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Food Hub Durham Region, Food Bank Oshawa, Feed the Need

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Feed the Need in Durham is a food hub in Oshawa that distributes food to 51 organizations including food banks, shelters and soup kitchens in Durham Region.

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Spent is an interactive game that helps players understand the impact of poverty. It displays how quickly your finances can become out of control, often resulting in homelessness.

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Urban Ministries of Durham serves over 6000 people every year who struggle with poverty and homelessness. Spent is an interactive game created by McKinney that challenges you to manage your money, raise a child and make it through the month getting paid minimum wage after a stretch of unemployment.

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The Do's and Don'ts of Helping The Homeless

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The Do's and Don'ts of Helping The Homeless

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This article provides tips for what to avoid when helping or giving to the homeless. It also outlines items that are desperately needed and how to provide them.

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Hopefully one day we won't have any homeless vets, or homeless people at all. In the meantime, having a few care packages to hand out is a great way to help out, and can be a fun group project for your family, church group, or book club!

Include This:
Baby wipes, lip balm, lotion, sunscreen
Not This: Soap, hand sanitizer, mouthwash

A common mistake a lot of well-intentioned people make, is to put smelly soaps and lotions in the same container as food. Unfortunately, this makes everything taste and smell like soap. So, the first tip is to separate toiletries from food items. In fact, leave the soap out all together. Anywhere homeless people have access to showers will have soap they can use as well. Opt instead for baby wipes. Anything including alcohol, such as hand sanitizer and mouthwash, should also be left out.
Include This:
Applesauce, pudding cups, trail mix, beef jerky
Not This: Crunchy granola bars, sticky food or candy
The thing to keep in mind when including food, is that our friends living on the street don't have regular access to dental care, so usually softer snacks are preferred over sticky and crunchy snacks. Strangely enough, however, the most sought after food item is beef jerky. Probably because it contains a ton of long-lasting protein, and fills you up! A variety of snacks to choose from is always nice, and most times they can trade for what they like.
Include This:
Travel coffee mugs, gift cards, socks, band aids
Not This: Cash, used items, shampoo, religious literature

When you travel by foot, clean, warm socks are always a welcomed gift! Travel coffee mugs are a great gift too, and will get the recipient a discount on refills. Including used items give the impression that this is your hand-me-down, and that the person who receives it isn't good enough for a new [pair of socks, coffee cup, fill-in-the-blank]. Including a tract, or a Bible verse may seem like a kind gesture, but ultimately, unless you are going to be there for these people every day, it can seem trite, and unhelpful. Instead, if you are the religious type, take time to get to know the people you are handing out care packages too, and ask if they would feel comfortable praying with you.
Do This:
Hand deliver, smile, go in groups, stay and chat
Not This: Throw out of your car, go alone

Aside from all of the physical challenges of getting food and shelter, homeless people are largely ignored and looked down upon. They are people, too! Take time to have a conversation with the people you are giving care packages to. You might be surprised at how similar their story is to your own, and how one misfortune landed them on the street. You will be blessing them more than you know just by giving them the respect and attention they deserve.

★ Help Feed Homeless Vets ★

While veterans represent 8% of the total population in the United States, they are disproportionately represented among our homeless: a startling 12% of the homeless population are veterans, or 16% of homeless adults. Most homeless veterans-over 90%-are male. About half of homeless veterans are disabled.
You can help.
The Veterans Site is a place where people can come together to support our veterans. In addition to sharing inspiring stories, shopping for the cause, and signing petitions, visitors can take just a moment each day to click on the blue button to provide free meals for homeless veterans in need. Visit The Veterans Site and click today - it's free!

Proper VET veteranssite_belowcontent

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Make Sure To READ THIS Before Making Care Packages For The Homeless!

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Take time to talk to homeless people. You might be surprised at how similar their story is to your own, and how one misfortune landed them on the street. You will be blessing them more than you know just by giving them the respect and attention they deserve.

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This website provides any information needed in order to create your own care kit.

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Pack A Care Kit

Pack a Care Kit to Help Someone Who Is Homeless
Care Kits are a simple way to provide practical help to a homeless man or woman. Keep some in your car so you're prepared to offer one to a person in need.
Fill out my online form.

SOME SUGGESTIONS...

Fragranced items such as soap, hand lotion or deodorant can negatively affect the taste of food items if placed in the same bag. Pack these separately if you choose to give them.

Avoid items such as mouthwash or hand sanitizer that contain alcohol.

Have a Care Kit party! Gather family, friends, co-workers or your community group to purchase supplies and assemble Care Kits together.

Care Kits are useful both in warm and cold weather. In summer, include sunblock or frozen bottles of water. In winter, include gloves, hats or heatpacks.

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Care Kits are a simple way to provide practical help to a homeless man or woman. Keep some in your car so you're prepared to offer one to a person in need. Fill out my online form. Fragranced items such as soap, hand lotion or deodorant can negatively affect the taste of food items if placed in the same bag.

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A summary of our research based on the rising levels of poverty in Canada and how it effects us all.

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Montreal's Lack of Awareness on Homelessness Issue

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Montreal's Lack of Awareness on Homelessness Issue

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Montreal has had a long standing reputation of a higher than average homelessness rate. However, it has only recently been observed that the reason this issue is so enormous may be because it's being completely ignored.

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For 18 years, Mario has been homeless. He sleeps in the day because at night when the temperature drops, it's too cold and dangerous-potentially fatal-to be out on Montreal's streets. Just last week a man lost his hand from frostbite, he told me; all it takes is one roll, one accidental exposure of skin to the cold outside their blankets to lose a limb. He used to sleep in Parc Emily Gamelin but can't any more because the SPVM have begun a campaign to keep the homeless out of the area, to keep them out of sight.

Last week, volunteers of "I Count MTL" tried to shine a light on the people who are hidden, ignored, and ushered away by businesses and police and into the shadows where they're more easily ignored.

On March 25, Montreal undertook the first count of its homeless population in 17 years. A total of 800 volunteers combed through 600 km of city streets to try and find out how many of it's citizens live as Mario does. Surveys of this type have been done in cities across Canada, including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto, but this is certainly much needed for Montreal considering the last attempt to count the city's most vulnerable took place in 1998.

"It's a Polaroid photo of one evening," said James McGregor, describing the survey and why he and the organizers of I Count MTL chose their methodology. "[We chose this type] first of all, because it's the one that is generally used across Canada and the United States; so with it we can compare ourselves to other cities. And the second reason is that it's more easily comparable over time, so it doesn't necessarily matter if you're undercounting as long as you're undercounting in the same way. So, next year, and in two years time, we can do the same count using the same methodology and we can see if we're making progress."

The main thrust of the survey took place over four hours on the night of March 25. The city was divided into 221 sectors, mostly focusing on the downtown core. In each sector, a small group of volunteers walked the streets, and checked metro stations and homeless shelters to ask a simple question: "Do you have a place to stay tonight?" If the subject answered "No," the volunteers conducted a quick questionnaire then moved on to whomever next they came across.

The 1998 count of Montreal's homeless population estimated the total to be around 30,000. Though the city has grown since then, this new "point-in-time" survey might actually come out with a smaller number. The count only reflects the people who are able to be found in a short timeframe, so it's probably going to come out with numbers that aren't completely accurate.

"I think this count is going to be false," said Alexandre Paradis, who participated in the count and works with SOS Itinérant giving food and clothing to the homeless. "We can't get the right numbers because the homeless, three quarters of the time, don't stay in the streets. There were lots of homeless people who weren't counted, so the numbers will be erroneous for sure."

While it might not be the definitive number, the count will at least help provide a bigger picture of the issue at hand, which is otherwise only gleaned from anecdotal experiences or limited data collected by an archipelago of organizations geared towards helping the homeless. So while there are a lot of opinions on the matter, some actual comprehensive data will be able to help in a number of ways.

"We all have an impression that homelessness is increasing in Montreal, but we don't know it. We haven't measured it in any significant way," said McGregor. "When shelters collect data they don't distinguish between individuals, so they don't know if it's the same person being there for 30 days or a different person there for 30 days. By taking a point in time survey you give yourself a context. And a lot of funders, foundations, and people, more and more, are looking for data to support action. In the old days, it was sufficient to say, 'We're doing a good thing,' to get funding, but these days people are looking for results. So, in some ways, each organization can put their own action in context and point, hopefully, towards positive results."

Positive results proven with reliable statistics are important in today's environment of slimming budgets, but while they help organizations validate their work they don't, in themselves, solve the problems faced by their subjects.

Montrealers signed up with an alacrity to the project unexpected by the organizers; McGregor expected it to take eight weeks of dedicated work to find 600 volunteers, but instead closed down registration in 10 days after registering over 1,000 people. It seems there is no shortage of people interested in helping, despite the unlikely prospect that homelessness will ever completely disappear.

"I think we're heading backwards instead of forwards, said Paradis. "The homeless in Montreal are well treated by the shelters and organizations, [but] there is some backsliding; like McDonalds, who last week we criticized because they refused to serve homeless people under the excuse that the homeless smell bad, they have no business in a McDonalds, they sometimes sleep at the tables. They are human beings like you and me and should be accepted, and you should accept their business."

An updated number on Montreal's homeless population is long overdue, and if "point-in-time" counts are repeated this year's count will become an invaluable piece of data. But it's often easy to look at a spreadsheet and forget that each number is a life, a struggle, a person deserving of dignity.

"We are all human beings, we are all one species," said Paradis, who would rather see shelters and aid organizations bring their information and experience together to better help and advocate for those in need. "With homelessness, there shouldn't be competition. And we shouldn't calculate statistics, we should calculate people. That's the big problem that organizations have. But they are people, not statistics, and not sources of funding."

Results of the survey to be presented to the municipal government in June.

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Montreal's Homeless Survey Highlights Lack of Awareness on Size of Issue

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For 18 years, Mario has been homeless. He sleeps in the day because at night when the temperature drops, it's too cold and dangerous-potentially fatal-to be out on Montreal's streets. Just last week a man lost his hand from frostbite, he told me; all it takes is one roll, one accidental exposure of skin to the cold outside their blankets to lose a limb.

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What It's Like to Be Homeless in College

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What It's Like to Be Homeless in College

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This article tells the story of several young adults who fell victim to poverty through the same system that is supposed to help them succeed.

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I was at a bar awhile back with some of my university friends, sharing beers and relaxing, when a homeless man approached us. He had a deck of cards, and was trying to entertain us for money. Everyone laughed him off, making the usual jokes about homeless people trying to bum change for drugs. I didn't say anything. After a few beers, I quietly excused myself. I had a curfew that night at the homeless shelter.

I was used to making exits like this. For almost a year prior, I had found ways to delicately balance my social life in college with the restrictions of being homeless, often leaving early from social outings with the excuse that I was tired or had to study, so that I could secure a place to sleep that night.

It's hard to know exactly how many college students are homeless, but an estimate from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA) and the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth ( NAEHCY) suggests that there are about 58,000 homeless students on college campuses in the United States. The actual figure is probably much higher, since many homeless youths try to keep their situation a secret. We are "invisibly" homeless, sleeping on friends' couches or falling asleep in the library, and staying at shelters and on the streets when there are no other options.

I became homeless during spring break of my sophomore year, when many of my fellow students were partying on campus or vacationing with friends. I was 20 years old at the time, an honor roll student studying philosophy and political science. I had been living with my grandparents, who took me in when I was a teenager so that I wouldn't go into foster care. But when my grandfather passed away and my grandmother fell ill, I had nowhere to live. I had no other family, and no money to pay for rent.

I go to a relatively small, public university in the Vancouver area. There are no dorms on campus, and rent in the area is steep (homes in Vancouver are among the most expensive in North America). Later, I would realize that my university offered emergency bursary for students in my situation-but at the time, I didn't know what my options were, and I was too embarrassed to ask.

Plus, becoming homeless in college was not a major shock to me. I had been homeless off-and-on during my early teens, before my grandparents took me in, and had learned how to hide my experiences. I would crash on friends' couches when I could, or sleep in parks. These bouts of homelessness were episodic, and I never knew when I would need to find a new place to stay, but I always made it work.

I figured that I could cope with homelessness in college the same way, and that I could easily hide it. I was wrong.

Watch: Why Is College So Expensive? on VICE News

In the beginning, I lived in a facility with social workers; then later, in a homeless shelter. I would wake up early for class, take the bus onto campus, and spend the day studying and working. I worked hard during the days, because at night, neither quiet time nor internet access were guaranteed.

Eventually, I moved into a transitional house, a special type of shelter that prepares people for permanent housing. Transitional houses are supervised, and the rules are strict: Drugs and alcohol aren't allowed on site, there are no visitors allowed, and there's a curfew at night. In order to live there, people have to be actively seeking employment or enrolled in school. The monthly rent at my transitional house was $375, more than half of the income assistance I received each month. That left me with about $5 per day to spend on food, school books, and incidentals.

The rooms in the transitional house were sort of like college dorms-there was a bed, a shelf, a set of drawers, and we all shared a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom-but the building was old and crawling with spiders.

When you're in the system, you don't get to choose who interferes with your life. You sleep wherever you can.

We each had a transitional worker assigned to us, who met with us periodically to check in on our housing and employment goals. There was also a property manager, who lived below us and made sure that we followed the rules of living in the building, sort of like a residential advisor. The property manager of my transition house went to the same university as I did, and she was studying for the same degree-we even had a class together. We had the same career goals, but starkly different paths. This was her job; this was my life.

Most university students live with roommates, some who party too much, sleep in too late, or prevent you from studying. But when you're in the system, you don't get to choose who interferes with your life. You sleep wherever you can.

Since I'm studying political science, the topic of homelessness comes up every now and then in my coursework: What do we do about the "homeless problem"? How do we change policies to improve conditions for the homeless? When this happens, I try to offer my opinion, but I choose my words carefully, to give myself distance from the subject. Most of my classmates have no idea the "problem" they are talking about was me at one time.

Great things happen in college. For most students, it's a whirlwind of drinking, partying, living without consequence. I will never know what it's like to experience it that way. Most university students aren't sure what they want to do after graduation, but there's something sexy about not knowing about your future when you're in your 20s and 30s. There is nothing sexy about not knowing where your next meal will come from, or where you'll sleep.

On Motherboard: Stop taking selfies with the homeless.

There are so many stereotypes about what it means to be homeless: People assume the homeless are lazy, strung-out, irresponsible, and incapable of leading normal lives. I've found the exact opposite. Being homeless forced me to work ten times as hard for my goals. While I watched other students absentmindedly scrolling through Facebook or shopping online during lectures, I had no choice but to focus. There was no internet in homeless shelters; I didn't have the luxury of studying whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted, and failing was not an option.

My best memories in college are the times when I saw friends who lived in the transition house with me on campus. Together, we laughed off the stereotypes, and we felt indestructible by managing our double-lives.

Eventually, I pulled my way out of the system: I got a job working at the university's student union, which paid $400 each month. I finally asked for financial help, and learned about emergency bursary and student loan options. Now that I'm in my final year of university, I work two jobs and live in an apartment with my boyfriend, who just graduated from the same school, and I hope to continue my education in law school.

When I was still living in transitional housing, I was elected to a position on student government. I didn't think I could have possibly been the right person for the job, but there is hidden value at being your weakest when opportunity strikes. One of my goals as a student leader is to give hope to other students who are without a home-because no student should have to go through what I went through without the proper support, inclusion, and resources.
If you are homeless student in the US, visit HUD.gov for information on federal resources and assistance.

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This Is What It's Like to Be Homeless in College

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I was at a bar awhile back with some of my university friends, sharing beers and relaxing, when a homeless man approached us. He had a deck of cards, and was trying to entertain us for money. Everyone laughed him off, making the usual jokes about homeless people trying to bum change for drugs.

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This article provides a perspective from individual's experiencing homelessness. They share how they wish to be viewed and treated, which turns out to be just like regular people.

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This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

Some people can be incredibly, inexplicably nasty to rough sleepers. "Can't get a job, mate?" they laugh, at 4 AM, 11 rum-and-cokes deep, skirts tucked deep into their going-out pants. "Have to pitch up in the street, do you? I tell you what I'm going to do: I'm going to kick your shins and rip your sleeping bag away because that'll be a proper fucking laugh."

Clearly, however, it is not a laugh. It's also not how you should treat any human being, regardless of whether or not they live in a house. Unfortunately, some people clearly haven't grasped the very basic tenets of not being horrible, because, depressingly, this kind of thing does actually happen semi-regularly up and down the UK.

Mind you, the majority of us don't behave like that. The majority of us are split into two distinct camps: those who normally give some change if they're asked, and those who don't because they assume that literally anyone sleeping on the street is trying to trick them into handing over their hard-earned coppers by lying about needing a sandwich, when really they're definitely, 100 percent always going to use it to buy crack cocaine.

Again, there are some very obvious problems going on there. Some problems that could do with remedying. So in a bid to do that we asked a number of London's rough sleepers to pass on some pointers. (While it's quite a bleak indictment of humanity that such a guide needs to exist, it's probably clear from this first point that it very much does.)

DON'T PISS ON PEOPLE

You'd have thought it would be quite an obvious one, this, but it's something that came up several times.

"The nights are the worst times," says Ed, known locally as Mr. God Bless because he offers a "God bless" to every pedestrian who passes him by. "Sleeping isn't safe-people get attacked, urinated on, spat at... and all the streets are the private property of the council, so you might get asked to move on and carry all your stuff away at 2, 3, or 4 AM."

It takes a unique type of scumbag to piss on a homeless person, but it happens. "I've had a few drunk people who think it's funny," says Stephen, a former public schoolboy who bravely perseveres living on the outskirts of the West End. The problems, he says, arise mainly from men on nights out together, running on triple shots and testosterone.

"People reckon that I do my business round here, so they think it's OK to join in," says David, a rough sleeper who's based near Embankment.

In a recent report, the homelessness charity Crisis revealed that two-thirds of homeless people have been abused publicly while sleeping rough, and one tenth have been pissed on. "People who are abusive are cowards," says Ed, "and they usually surround themselves with a few mates. But 99 percent of my interactions are friendly or, at worst, them ignoring me."

REMEMBER THAT YOU TAKE CERTAIN THINGS FOR GRANTED

"This year alone I've ripped my glute," says Ed, pointing to his ass. "And I slipped on a banana skin-would you believe it-and had to have surgery on my knee."

Unless you have a marathon or a day at the beach with your child to get out of, injuries like this aren't exactly welcome, no matter your circumstances. But, as is pointed out to me, they're considerably harder to deal with when you constantly have to lug all your worldly possessions around with you.

Another thing to contend with when you have no roof or walls to call your own is the British winter. "It's fucking cold," says David. "If I can't get into a hostel or one of the shelters, I'd rather be up on my feet at night."

David has been through many of London's shelters and accommodation services, the cost of which comes straight out of his benefits. Others, like Ed, don't claim benefits, instead relying on the money they can get from passersby. A good day might contribute £40 [$60] towards a night in a hostel; a bad day means a few hours kip wherever's dry.

GETTING MONEY IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL GAME

We live in a world where who you buy your car insurance from can be swayed by your preference of meerkats over men pretending to be opera singers. Marketing works on us when we're being asked to hand over large amounts of money, so it makes sense to employ it to convince us to donate small amounts.

"This is my camera," says Stephen. "I like to ask Japanese tourists for a photo."

Stephen is set up with a pair of drums outside Marble Arch, where a constant stream of tourists flows onto Oxford Street. I take over the drumming for a few minutes so he can grab a photo with two peace-sign-waving teenagers. His ad hoc photo business seems a nice little gimmick, except for the fact he has no means of printing or distributing the photos. "The photos are just for me," he adds, "but it's also a good way to get friendly with people."

Ed's strategy is simpler: "I say 'God bless' to everyone who comes past, and eventually you become acquaintances." Just after he says this, he blesses a woman and her young scootering daughter. "I like your helmet," he says, "I like your rosaries!" the mother replies in a thick Irish accent. No money changes hands, but there's every chance they'll return after their shop.

GO TO RICH AREAS IF YOU WANT TO DONATE MONEY

The word "homeless" is misleading, as it suggests that these are people without a home. Without a house, perhaps, but not a home. "I'm registered to vote here," says David of his plot near the river. "I know the area better than you or the people who live in those flats."

David is one of over 6,500 rough sleepers in London, and, like a high proportion of them, sticks to the more affluent areas during the day. Tourists-who are more inclined to carry large wads of cash and can misunderstand the value of our funny, colorful money-are the most valuable punters.

"You get hundreds of Asians and Germans coming through every day. That's why I stick to my patch outside McDonald's," says David.

Related: Watch our film about the housing crisis, 'Regeneration Game'

INTERACTIONS ARE GOOD FOR EVERYONE

"For some of the old ladies, I'm the only interaction they'll have all day," says Mr. God Bless. "So I'm positive with them and I get a positive reaction back."

Ed's positivity means he offers hundreds of greetings every day, even when people ignore or avoid him. "We've got very frightened of social interactions," he says, "unless they're with a smartphone."

Pretending not to notice that you're being asked for money is common, because it's a lot easier than awkwardly stammering, "Sorry-I've-only-got-a-card," with your eyes fixed to your laces. But you don't need to. "A smile or a nod of a head-that's all really nice to receive," says Ed, pointing out that simple human contact is a kind of currency in itself. "All I can give in return is a 'God bless,' so that's what I do."

NOT ALL HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE THE SAME

Again, you'd have thought most rational Brits would realize this, as-like any single human-homeless people vary from person to person. However, it appears that a lot of us don't, and it's this kind of attitude that leads to prejudice, generalizations, and unkindness.

Stephen is an alcoholic who drinks a homemade cider (which, having tasted it, definitely doesn't involve any apples). Ed has struggled with substance abuse and became homeless after his partner of 12 years died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 2013. David doesn't like to talk about his past.

In order to avoid incurring problems with the local police, they all avoid asking too explicitly for money, but each has his own unique methods. "Good afternoon, officers!" Ed calls to two police officers while we chat. "I've got a good relationship with the local PCSOs because I don't beg; I just say God bless."

Others are spot beggars, the type who come up to you and ask for change for a bus, or a hostel, or a bag of chips. Ed warns me not to speak to them, while David calls them "not so friendly," which seems a bit of a euphemism. "I can understand people avoiding beggars," says David, "but they don't have to be rude. I hear a lot of offensive stuff being thrown around."

"You've just got to try to make people aware of why you got out here," says Ed, peeling a caramel trifle that a woman has just given him, "I've got a degree in psychology, so I'm good at working people out. You've got to do that so that they can understand. When they see what I've gone through, people often ask me, 'How did you survive it?' But, put simply, you've got to."

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How to Treat the Homeless: Tips from Actual Homeless People

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This article originally appeared on VICE UK. Some people can be incredibly, inexplicably nasty to rough sleepers. "Can't get a job, mate?" they laugh, at 4 AM, 11 rum-and-cokes deep, skirts tucked deep into their going-out pants. "Have to pitch up in the street, do you?