"It nearly made me cry that people were willing to just be kind" - Sheffield community rallies to help furnish homeless veteran's first home in years

A Sheffield community has rallied round to furnish a former homeless man’s apartment in a ‘real display of humanity.’
Tansy never expected so much to be donated and was overwhelmed by people's generosity.Tansy never expected so much to be donated and was overwhelmed by people's generosity.
Tansy never expected so much to be donated and was overwhelmed by people's generosity.

Sheffield resident Tansy Warrilow met Liam, a formerly homeless veteran, four years ago, and would regularly chat to him and drop off essentials.

When Liam told her a few weeks ago that he had been set up with a property, Tansy was overjoyed, but wanted to know if she could help.

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Liam’s property had only basic furnishings; a bed but no bedding, an oven but no kitchenware, so Tansy resolved to help her friend fully furnish his property and posted in a south west Sheffield Facebook group asking for help.

So much was donated that Tansy had to hire a van as her car was not big enough to transport it.So much was donated that Tansy had to hire a van as her car was not big enough to transport it.
So much was donated that Tansy had to hire a van as her car was not big enough to transport it.

She said: “I had no idea there would be such a response.

“I asked my friend to like the post so that more people would see it, but within half an hour there were 50 likes and 30 comments. People were offering pots and pans, bookcases, chest of drawers.

“I must have got about 30 private messages. One person offered to buy anything from Amazon up to the value of £100, and Liam picked out a nice chest of drawers.

"A couple of people did a food shop, others did a cleaning shop.

Tansy collected household items from generous Sheffielders.Tansy collected household items from generous Sheffielders.
Tansy collected household items from generous Sheffielders.
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“It was really thoughtful, I thought when I sent the post, someone might have a pillow to offer, I had no idea it would be this big.

"It nearly made me cry that people were willing to just be kind. I think there is kindness in everybody, people just went over and above."

It took just four days from Tansy posting the request online to Liam having a fully furnished property.

Tansy added: “I wanted to get it done as soon as possible because he was living there.

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"All I have done is offer a little bit of kindness and time to put it out there and a couple of hours to collect it to help someone who has offered his life for this country.

"Liam was quite overwhelmed. He said ‘if you have done all this maybe I do deserve this and maybe I am worth something.’

"Nobody knows me in that Facebook group. I didn’t know any of the people that helped. It was a real display of humanity, they recognised that there was just someone in a tough spot.”