A Hitchin woman helped charity volunteers work at the Homeless World Cup in Chile.
Sally Russell, who co-ordinates the work of the Monarch Foundation, helping disadvantaged families, children and young people, volunteered to help organise a 600 strong World Cup parade through the streets of Chile’s capital, Santiago, where the tournament was held last month.
Sally said: “My colleague Josh Engleman and I were in Santiago as international volunteers supporting the Monarch Foundation’s charity partnership with the Homeless World Cup which uses street soccer programmes to engage homeless people globally so they can change their own lives.
“I volunteered in a team of almost 50 people from four corners of the world and within days we had become a tight knit family, supporting each other with encouragement, friendship and humour.
“Five of us organised 600 people to march through the streets of Santiago, with teams in alphabetical country order.
“It was challenging – but in a fun way! I learned one of the worst things about homelessness is loneliness – yet loneliness did not exist at the Homeless World Cup. Lives were full of companionship.”
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