A cold snap may have most of us reaching for our scarves and gloves, but staff at Maidstone Day Centre are receiving up to five requests a day for warm socks from people living on the street.

The centre in Knightrider Street, Maidstone, has also seen the numbers of homeless visiting rise, from an average of 20 a day during the warmer months, to as many as 42 last week.

The Kent Messenger is appealing for donations for Maidstone Homeless Care, which runs the centre, a food drive and hostel, under our annual You Can Help appeal.

Manager Zofia Grzymala said donations of warm clothes are particularly needed.

She said: “We really need donations of winter clothes, including warm socks, as we are getting so many requests. If you are living on the street or in a tent and your feet get wet, your socks go mouldy as you cannot dry them out.

“We have also had a lot of requests for plasters, as homeless people have problems with their feet. We can provide plasters to cushion them.”

The constant rising demand for the centre’s services prompted an urgent appeal for certain items through the Kent Messenger in October, but more supplies are needed. Three extra volunteers have been sorting out the supplies.

Among them are student nurses Abi Beddoes, 33, and Louise Lansdell, 34, who have started volunteering at the centre on their days off. The pair have been sorting hundreds of tins a day.

It’s a subject close to Miss Beddoes’ heart. She was homeless for two years some time ago and although she now has a career and her own home in Maidstone, she has sympathy for those going through the same ordeal.

She said: “People can turn it around, they just need some help. I have got my own place now, and I know you can do that if people believe in you. I was sofa surfing for two years.

“You see so many people struggling at the moment and so what they do here is great. It’s the little things that can make such a difference. It is about getting your self esteem back.”

There is also have a high demand for emergency food parcels for families who have fallen on hard times, and need nappies and toiletries, plus tins of dog and cat food.

If you would like to donate non-perishable items, which are in date, and other items, you can drop them off at collection points, including the Kent Messenger’s office at 6 & 7 Middle Row, Maidstone.

They are at: All Saints’ Church in Loose, Iceland in the Chequers Centre, Maidstone Girls’ Grammar School, Maidstone Grammar School, Morrisons in Sutton Road, Morrisons in Larkfield, Oakwood Park Grammar School, Outset at Maidstone Studios, St Luke’s Church in Maidstone, St Peter’s Church in Boughton Monchelsea, St Simon Stock School, Tesco Express in Hermitage Lane and Tesco Tovil.

If you can help or offer a collection point email the Friends of Maidstone Day Centre at secretary@homelesscare.org.uk or call Angela Clay on 01622 844481 or Mike FitzGerald on 01622 743270.