Teenagers have joined forces to collect and distribute vital goods to support the homeless in Mansfield and Ashfield.

Young people from Nottinghamshire County Council’s youth service, Garibaldi College and the non-profit voluntary charitable trust Helping The Homeless have been working at the Beacon Project and the Temple Trust soup kitchen in Mansfield town centre.

They have collected women’s and men’s clothes, tinned food, sleeping bags, tents, quilts and shoes to make a difference to people in need.

Helping The Homeless is a charitable trust organised by teenagers, including Jordan Turner, which campaigns locally through its website and Facebook pages.

It runs a successful outreach programme and works with other charities and groups, including Underdog, to help tackle homelessness.

Jordan, 17, said: “I live in a nice house, have a good education and have a great supporting family. These homeless people have none of that. I want them to start believing in themselves and try to get their life back on track.”

The organisation joined with teenagers from The Garrage Young People’s Centre, some of whom also study at Garibaldi College in Forest Town, to collect items. The youth group members are Danielle Streets, Billy Scott, May Roberts, Cameron Kalkan, Cal Smith, Autumn Cassidy, Joshua Horner and Bryony Hajman.

Danielle (15) organised a Wanted poster appealing for donations, which was posted up around the town centre.

She said: “We heard about the work of Help the Homeless through our youth centre leader, Zoe Stimpson, who has volunteered to support homeless people for many years. We immediately wanted to get involved and the response from everyone to donate so much has been brilliant.”

To find out more about the work of Help the Homeless, go to www.facebook.com/helpingthehomeless.mansfield and www.helping-the-homeless.co.uk