Euan McGrory: Why give a sleeping bag? Because people are cold now
IT is amazing what one man with a vision can achieve.
Josh Littlejohn, the man who brought George Clooney and Leo DiCaprio to Edinburgh, is on a mission - to bring to an end the blight of homelessness on our city.
Some will scoff at the idealism which shines through that statement. The cynics should wait until they see what the diffence which the cash raised by 8,000 people sleeping in Princes St Gardens tonight makes.
Josh of course is not working alone. He would be the first to admit that it is only through working with others - the city council, housing associations, charities, volunteers - that any of us will make a difference.
We at the Evening News are determined to play our part too. Members of our team will be among the sleepers in the park and we are teaming up with Hibs, NHS Lothian and charities working with the homeless in Edinburgh to launch our own sleeping bag appeal.
We are inviting readers to donate a good quality ‘four seasons’ sleeping bag through our Edinburgh Cheer campaign. Why? Because when we asked what we could do to support what was being done at Sleep in the Park, Ewan Aitken of the Cyrenians told us bluntly, ‘People are cold now’.