Café Owner Introduces Voucher System To Help Homeless Get A Meal

Some people might be hesitant about giving homeless people money - for whatever reason, they might perhaps be under the assumption that it'll be spent on something other than food or shelter.

But one café owner in Wales has decided that there is a way for the public to help homeless people and ensure their donation goes to a good cause.

Credit: Media Wales

Leeann Edwards was driven to set up a new initiative after seeing displaced people sleeping around her Cardiff business. The 33-year-old heard of other businesses introducing a voucher system and wanted to see if it would work at her Granny Mac's café.

The program allows customers to buy a food voucher for £3.80 for a homeless person to redeem later. The voucher is worth the same as a Mini Mac breakfast, but the café will increase it to a big breakfast for the redeemer.

Leeann Edwards

Credit: Media Wales

Ms Edwards has told the Mirror: "I thought let's come up with some ideas to make things a bit different to give back to the community, because I like to do charity work and that's when we came up with the vouchers.

"Not everybody's got £3.80 and I understand that and I understand that people do want to give back to the community, so what I thought I'd do is I've just ordered a stand where I'm going to put different vouchers in."

Customers can buy food vouchers for homeless

Credit: Media Wales

She says the initiative has really taken off, with hundreds of vouchers sold in just a few months. Leeann also has plans allow people with autism to have parties at the café for free as long as they bring their own food.

It's an unfortunate belief that some people believe homeless people will spend their begging money on things other than food or essential supplies.

That theory was broken down in the wake of the Manchester terror attack, when homeless man Tommy decided to use his small change to buy flowers to place at a memorial site.

Tommy donated his begging money to Manchester bombing victims

Credit: Media Wales

According to the Manchester Evening News, the day after the bombing, a stranger handed Tommy a fiver, which he instantly spent on flowers.

Since then, he's bought six more bunches of flowers, spending around £40 in total. He's told the newspaper: "I've been here since the beginning, since the first flowers were left, and watched it grow.

"A lot of people in this area have done a lot for me so it's a tribute to the people that have given me the money as well."

Topics: Homeless

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie