Tory MP for Altrincham Sir Graham Brady and Scottish Labour MP Kate Green visited SafeStore coats drop off points in Manchester. (Photo: Charles Lawley//Human Appeal)

Elham Asaad Buaras

Human Appeal is aiming to collect 30,000 coats to donate to homeless people in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow as part of its Wrap Up campaign.

The British Muslim faith-based NGO is hoping to surpass the 24,000 coats collected last year with help of over 1000 volunteers.

The Wrap Up Manchester campaign is running for the third consecutive year and Wrap Up Birmingham and Wrap Up Glasgow for the second year.

Each campaign is delivered in partnership with flexible volunteering focused charity Hands On London, which this year sees the eighth annual Wrap Up London, the project which inspired Wrap Up Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

The campaign will see Human Appeal set up numerous donation points across the cities, including locations as high profile as Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station and various SafeStore self-storage locations across the cities, where the public can drop off unwanted coats from November 12 until November 23.

The annual campaign has received cross-party support. Tory MP for Altrincham Sir Graham Brady, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Scottish Labour MP Kate Green have all visited SafeStore drop off points across Manchester.

Human Appeal volunteer pictured pictured last year with the coats collected for Wrap Up Manchester campaign (Photo: Shakeel Aslam/Human Appeal)

From there Human Appeal will sort through the coats and then distribute them to homeless shelters and other centres. People who need the coats will go and collect them from professionals who can also provide advice and services to help beneficiaries.

Samra Said, the UK Domestic Programmes Manager for Human Appeal, says, “Every year, the response we have received has been overwhelming. The winter months can be unforgiving for those sleeping rough or unable to afford a winter coat. We hope as many people as possible will warm someone’s body with a coat and warm their heart by letting them know that you care.”

Jon Meech, CEO for Hands On London, says, “We are excited to have Human Appeal on board once again for another year of coat collecting. We at Hands On London, we’re excited to start this partnership three-years-ago and it has gone from strength-to-strength from then on in.”