A RUBERY chef, businessman and author will be giving up his Christmas Day to help out at a shelter in Birmingham.
Paul James, who also promotes hospitality and tourism businesses and writes the Standard’s ‘Recipes From My Travels’ column, will volunteer at the Birmingham Christmas Shelter which opens its doors 24-hours-a-day during December so 150 homeless and other lonely adults can enjoy a Christmas week with people who care.
The service users are given a free safe place to sleep out of the cold, entertainment, showers, and as much food and treats as possible to build them up to withstand the cold weeks ahead.
The shelter depends entirely on donations and volunteers. Throughout Christmas, volunteers are organised into teams under the support of an area team leader who ensures things run smoothly and allocates jobs to do.
For the other 51 weeks of the year, the charity’s volunteers participate by helping with fundraising, running and coming to events and helping plan and organise for the next year.
Anyone wanting to donate should visit birminghamchristmasshelter.org
