Chris and Ben Tidy
The father and son - 23 years of volunteering between them
It was 1974, I would have been about thirty, we heard on the radio that Crisis were looking for help to serve tea and soup in a church in Lambeth. From that point on I came down at Christmas to help set up, sort out clothes, get it ready for the Christmas period. I think I did it because I knew that people can be very vulnerable and worse off than you, we wanted to do our best to help.
When the boys came along, we didn't do it for about ten years. But when they were a little older, they used to come down and help us sort the clothes out before the centres opened. They loved helping out, they thought it was great fun jumping around on the mattresses.
Then about three or four years ago Ben said he'd like to come and spend time at Christmas doing it with me. Its something he's always wanted to do, he realises there's a lot of people who need help and that's what the spirit of Christmas is about.
We've volunteered together ever since. It's fantastic that he does it, I care deeply about homelessness so I'm really very proud of him.
Crisis stands for what we really believe in, and back in the 70's, it seemed to be the forerunner and probably the only place dealing with homelessness.
I think we've all got to realise that we can be in a vulnerable situation at any time. We can all spiral into poverty from any point and it's important to understand that. We're all a community and some of us are more vulnerable than others. If you've got the time, Crisis is a wonderful thing to be part of.