The Sock Mob - an informal volunteer network (London)

I am interested to know the story of this informal volunteer network actually do with the homeless in town and how they engaged with another extremely different group of people in the city. I joined their walks in order to find out more what they do and also where the homeless people stay.

I joined an online social network “meet up” in order to get the information of the walks they do around the city. I can check out which area they are going to walk on that day and where and when to meet, they basically organize everything by posting on the website, about what the people would bring along, where to go for a drink and gather after the walk.

Then we went for the actual walk, I met up with the others somewhere along the Strand. From a big branch of a sandwiches shop, we’ve got some sandwiches which they normally flow away at the end of each day if they are not sold. In the walk, someone bring along his dog, someone bring along some soup and other materials and resources that might be useful for the people stay on the street. 

The homeless people are spreaded out around the area, a bigger group of them gather in front of the doorstep of a church facing the Covert Garden, watching the performance on the square. Another big group gather at pavement area at the intersection of the William IV Street and the Agar Street. The Lions Club from Essex held soup runs here and serve about 100 homeless people everyday. They will sit on the kurb at the shopfront of a book shop, under the trees in that little open space. The territory along a busy road suddenly became a picnic field in the heart of the city. 

Some of them prefer to stay alone on the steps infront of restaurants, supermarket, front and rear door of theatre, basically where there are people who might give them some money or food. You can always see some marks on the floor of those places which shows their existence.

The Sock Mob Group chat with them causally when they hand out the resources to the homeless. They walk, sit and talk with them and they described their action as a moment of mutual learning and trust, driven by the ethos of unconditional human contact and friendship.