Arundel & South Downs MP Nick Herbert joined cub scouts from the Bury and Pulborough packs who were packing shopping bags to raise funds for the homeless charity Depaul International on Saturday (2 March).

The cub scouts were helping shoppers to pack their bags in Tesco in Pulborough in return for a donation to their chosen charity. The cubs chose to support Depaul with their fundraising initiative after meeting Mr Herbert recently. The MP had visited the Bury and Pulborough packs in November for UK Parliament Week when they ran a questions and answers session to learn more about how Parliament works.

The children were interested to hear about Nick’s work with homeless charities. Mr Herbert is an Officer for the All-Party Parliament Group (APPG) on Ending Homelessness. The packs offered their support to help raise funds and awareness and decided on a charity bag pack.

Mr Herbert was joined at the event by his partner Jason Eades, Senior Partnership Manager for Depaul, a charity which has The Duchess of Norfolk as its Patron.

Jonathan Pearce, leader of Bury Cub Pack of 1st Pulborough and West Chiltington Scout Group, said: "When Nick and Jason came to talk to the Cubs last term, one of the topics we discussed was homelessness. The Cubs were moved to hear about the issues faced by the homeless and were interested to learn about the supportive work of DePaul International/UK. The Cubs agreed they would like to do something to contribute to the charity and we are hugely grateful to Tesco Pulborough for the opportunity to conduct this bag pack to raise funds. We would also like to thank Nick and Jason for their interest and their ongoing encouragement."

Jonathan confirmed that the cubs had raised £270.28.

Jason Eades said: “I was so pleased to join the cubs on Saturday afternoon for a charity bag pack to help raise funds to support Depaul International’s work in the UK and overseas to tackle homelessness. I was touched that the cubs decided themselves they wanted to raise funds to help homeless people and awareness of the plight of some of the most vulnerable in society. On behalf of everyone at Depaul I want to thank all the cubs involved.”

Mr Herbert said: “This was a really great initiative by the cubs. They decided who they wanted to raise money for and how they were going to do that. They have worked hard today to help shoppers and to raise money which will support the wonderful work which Depaul undertakes for the homeless.”

ENDS

Notes

1. Photograph: Left to right – Jason Eades, co-leader Martin Botting, Nick Herbert, Karen Brooks, Community Champion for Tesco Pulborough, and members of the Bury and Pulborough cub packs.

2. Depaul International is a UK registered international charity supporting homeless and marginalised people around the world. It’s Patron is Her Grace, The Duchess of Norfolk. It is a parent organisation of a group of charities that operate in UK, France, Ireland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia and USA. Depaul International manages more than 80 different projects internationally providing shelter, food, medical care and a place of safety for over 21,000 individuals each year.

To read more about Depaul please see https://int.depaulcharity.org and Twitter @Depaulintl.

MP joins cubs for charity bag pack for the homeless