VIDEO: Sheffield students march through city centre for homeless

March for the Homeless in Sheffield organised by Save Our Sandwiches.

Dozens of young people from the University of Sheffield marched from Devonshire Green to the Cathedral along with supporters and local politicians.

The march was organised by the university students' union's 'Save Our Sandwiches' group, which collects surplus food from university outlets and donates them to those in need.

March organiser, Joe Lucy, aged 21, said: "People become desensitized to it I think so this march is about making people more aware of the issue.

"It is something we shouldn't have to do but we need to 'humanise' homeless people again."

Joe said he had been living in Sheffield for three years and had seen the situation deteriorate noticeably in the time.

"You can't walk anywhere without seeing a homeless person asking for change," he said. "It is definitely getting worse."

Joe's colleague, Hannah Rees, also 21, agreed: "I was walking through the city centre once and I saw ten people on the streets in just one hour.

"As a community we need to recognise the hardship that those people face."

The Save Our Sandwiches group take food they collect from the University to the Salvation Army and homelessness charity, Ben's Place.

Since they were founded in 2015 they have donated 35,000 sandwiches to vulnerable people, equivalent in weight to two Fiat 500s.

"There is a big food waste problem in Sheffield," said Hannah.

"A lot of food just gets thrown away but it is perfectly ok and still fit to be eaten.

"We take that food and redistribute it to other people in the city."

The activists got a big boost recently from former Labour leader, Ed Miliband MP, who shared one of their tweets to his 757,000 followers on social media.

"We got a message from him as well to say that he was a fan so that was really exciting," said Hannah.

Also there lending her support was former Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett.

She said: "We talk about the homeless as if they are someone different but in fact any of us could find ourselves in that situation.

"We all need to work to help people as individuals but also to change our society so no one is homeless."

To find out more visit www.facebook.com/groups/saveoursandwiches.