IT'S a simple gesture, but it could help to save lives in Bradford this Christmas.

Every Sunday evening a group of volunteers set off for the city centre, armed with winter coats. The coats are dropped off at various points, and attached to them are tags bearing the words "This coat is for you".

Project Winter Coat was set up by Kelly Townsend, of Thornton, who came up with the idea of walking around the city centre and distributing donations of coats for homeless people. Every week Kelly is joined by family members and friends, who write about their experiences in a blog.

"We headed out a little later this week. We figured we might get the chance to meet more people if they were settling down in their spots for the night," one blog reads. "We weren’t wrong. We'd been out only a few minutes and two chaps approached us: “You’re the guys helping us out aren’t you?” Word had got around.

"If we thought last week was cold, we had a shock this week. The wind howled, the damp air wrapped around us, in that ‘cold to the bone’ sort of feeling. That said, we wouldn’t be sleeping in the thick of it tonight like the people we met."

The first blog reads: "Our first outing was a chilly one. It served to bring home the real truth of why we were trawling the streets. We went with one intention. If we could give at the very least one coat to somebody who would benefit it, our evening would have been successful.

"And that we did. We talked to people, who spoke to us openly and took our offering as kindness, not pity. It was at times upsetting when we approached people as they cowered, seemingly expecting harassment of some kind. Or the countless times we tried to get their attention because they clearly believed there would be no reason at all that we would want to talk to them."

Julie Drake has been helping the volunteers with advice. As manager of the Blenheim Project in Bradford for 15 years, Julie saw at firsthand the effects of homelessness and the need for support on the streets.

The Blenheim Project, based in Manningham, closed in September after nearly four decades of helping homeless women and children. Bosses blamed the closure on cuts, leaving the project unable to provide adequate provision.

Julie fears the loss of such services will have a significant impact on cold weather provision for those in need this winter.

"The Blenheim Project was part of the voluntary cold weather provision initiative in Bradford, offering three places per night for women who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets. Once temperatures dropped to zero or below we put sleeping bags in the meeting room, alongside regular provision at the hostel. These places have now been lost.

"Due to Government cuts, a lot of smaller voluntary sector projects, like Blenheim, are closing down. Bradford is losing an extra 17 spaces for women and children. It means children will be picked up by social services, at public cost, and more women will become homeless.

"There are various factors involved with homelessness, but for women mental health problems and domestic violence often play a part. With dwindling numbers of voluntary projects, and not enough empty buildings opened up, street homelessness is rising and the bottom line is that this could mean deaths on the streets of Bradford this winter."

Julie welcomes Project Winter Coat as a "simple yet potentially life-saving initiative".

"My daughter and her friends are using social media to get the word out, they've been inundated with coats but still need donations," says Julie. "Kelly got the idea from an initiative in Canada, where they hang coats on lamp posts.

"Kelly's team leave coats in places like the arches at Forster Square railway station, and they give them out to homeless men and women they meet. There are hats and scarves too, and they leave chocolate bars in coat pockets.

"It's heartening to see a group of people taking to the streets to provide such vital help this winter."

The last word goes to the Project Winter Coat bloggers: "Tonight we realised homelessness can happen for many many reasons. Look around you. Homelessness is everywhere. It’s next to you on the bus, it’s ordering a coffee in front of you, and walking beside you in the street. And it can affect anyone at any time."

* For more information, or to donate a coat, go to projectwintercoat.wordpress.com or email projectwintercoat@outlook.com