The city of Leicester, England has revealed ‘The Hulk,’ a large, green, mobile library which aims to help the city’s rough sleepers and ease the struggle of being homeless. The van was gutted and has since had shelves fitted which allow it to store over 500 books, from Roald Dahl to Harry Potter.
As Leicester Mercury reports, ‘The Hulk’ was officially unveiled in a ceremony on Wednesday and is officially called The Roaming Readers. The mobile van was funded by the Help the Homeless charity and offers rough sleepers something to keep their minds occupied, while also serves as a place where you can charge your mobile phone.
The van will begin its service by being stationed at the weekly feed for homeless people which occurs once a week on Wednesdays, but the van will certainly be doing some traveling.
“We got a van – the biggest one we could find,” said Arif Voraji, of Help the Homeless. “We want to provide a place where people can go and relax for a bit and feel safe – maybe just charge up their mobile phones and enjoy a book.
“We’ve got a great collection in there.
“We talk about the three Es – enrichment, encouragement and empowerment – and we think this will help people going through a difficult time in their lives.”
Rough sleepers will also find that the mobile library offers up toiletries, clean sleeping bags, clothes, and useful information that can help them rebuild their lives and inform them of other services. The project was supported by Socks and Chocs, a charity that tries to mitigate trials caused by homelessness. No doubt ‘The Hulk’ will be very useful to a lot of the homeless in Leicester and will go someway towards alleviating the number of people who must sleep rough at night.
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