Alix Andra from Bournemouth was horrified when, last weekend, she spotted a woman sitting in an empty shop doorway in Boscombe.
The woman was holding a tiny newborn baby in her arms. Horrified that a new mum and her little one should be living on the streets, Alix reached out to her.
She then took to Facebook to tell her story and raise awareness.
Describing it as “the saddest sight”, Alix’s post began by describing the state in which she found the desperate mother.
She was “perched on top of a rolled up sleeping bag, her hair was greasy, her hands were grubby.”
Although the mum “wasn’t begging or making eye contact with anyone,” Alix approached her and was about to ask if she’d like something to eat.
“Before I could utter any words, I was shocked to see she was in fact holding a tiny baby snuggled to her chest, wrapped in a blanket!”
Horrified, Alix asked her if she needed some help, and within seconds, the mother began to cry, followed by the baby.
“I told her to come with me,” she wrote, “with little money on me I took her into McDonalds for somewhere to sit and eat, I held her tiny baby while she ate and told me her story.”
It turns out that the mum had been in an abusive relationship and had fled during her pregnancy. While she’s happy to be free from her abuser, she has been forced to live in emergency accommodation – but that has its limitations.
“The owners ask her to leave at 10am every day and to not return till 6pm,” she wrote.
Alix did her best to talk the B&B owners into letting the woman stay, but to no avail. However, she did buy the new mum some essentials – nappies, wipes and baby milk.
“She hugged me and cried,” Alix wrote. “How this is allowed to continue in ‘Great’ Britain is beyond me! I will visit her on Monday.”
While Alix feels helpless, the very act of posting the story on Facebook has been help enough.
Just a day after posting, Alix wrote that she had been inundated with messages from kind-hearted strangers offering assistance.
Some offered to give the new mum a room for the hours she had nowhere to go, while others offered baby clothes and food.
Alix was heartwarmed by the messages which she calls “nothing but astounding.”
Thankfully, a registered organisation has stepped in and are addressing the woman’s situation “with immediate effect.”
Alix couldn’t be happier about the community spirit that the story has re-ignited.
“A lot of people think Facebook is a waste of time, but this goes to prove, it can also change lives,” she wrote.
She also said she had been getting offers of monetary donations so decided to set up a fundraising page for the woman and her baby.
At the time of writing, the GoFundMe page had reached £425 out of the £500 target within just 16 hours of going live. To donate, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/bmthmumappeal.
To read more of Alix's post and the messages that followed, click below.
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