Winter Coats For North East Homeless

19 December 2012, 05:27 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Charity workers are asking for help to provide warm winter clothing for homeless people living in the North East

Andy Brown, one of a group of volunteers, came up with the idea of a winter coat amnesty that encourages people to donate their old coats so that they can be handed out to homeless people this winter.

Last year more than 500 items were collected and handed out.

Crisis, a national charity for single homeless people, will help give the coats out on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to users of their services.

The group is also looking for donations of hats, scarfs, gloves, hoodies, socks and brand new warm or thermal underwear.

The majority of people who will benefit from the amnesty are men - with a 70/30 split between men and women.

You can find out where you can drop off any donations on the Winter Coat Amnesty Facebook page.

And for more information check out the Twitter page @WinterCoatsNE 

To hear more about the amnesty, have a listen to one of the volunteers, Claire Paczko, talking to Capital's Anna Harding