World Homeless Day is taking place on Friday 10 October, aiming to raise awareness about homelessness around the world.
Here’s a transcript of the conversation between Communications Officer Liz Day and Head of Fundraising Kerys Sheppard about some Shelter Cymru World Homeless Day projects.
Listen to more on our podcast, Fight For Home
Liz: World Homeless Day is all about working to prevent and end homelessness and alleviate the suffering of people who are experiencing it. I know this is a super busy time for the Fundraising team, so thank you for taking some time out to join us today, Kerys. Perhaps we could start with the Cardiff Half, which is coming up the weekend of 4 and 5 October. I’ve been there on race day for the last couple of years and I absolutely love the buzz. What’s your favourite thing about Cardiff Half weekend?
Kerys: Oh, it’s fab, isn’t it? Probably the same as you, I think. I think the atmosphere is absolutely brilliant. It’s definitely the race that we get feedback on in terms of atmosphere, because I think there’s just not a single point of that course where there aren’t people cheering for you and yeah, I think it’s just the crowd and the cheer points. They’re there throughout the whole route and we’ve really ramped up our presence at that event. And I just think we’re so lucky in Wales because the kind of half when you’re running that route or even if you’re just kind of, you know, watching on. You know, you’ve got some brilliant landmarks there, and then if you did the Swansea Half, you’re running on the coast and then we’ve got Marathon Eryri up in the north and it’s just Wales is just a beautiful place anyway. But yeah, the atmosphere in the Cardiff Half is amazing.
Liz: It’s such a scenic course, running past Cardiff Castle, the Principality Stadium, Cardiff Bay barrage, the Senedd, Wales Millennium Centre. Do you have a favourite part of the route?
Kerys: Well, having run the race myself in 2019, I think my favourite part was probably the finish line, but I can tell you my least favourite part. It’s a beautiful place, but when you’re actually taking part in the Cardiff Half, you just think Roath Park is never going to end. It’s quite a long park to kind of run around the perimeter of, but yeah, it’s full of landmarks, isn’t it? I think the favourite place for me from both a runner’s perspective and a cheer point and charity perspective, it’s probably the Oval Basin, just outside Wales Millennium Centre, because I think as a runner when you get to that point, you know you’re halfway, that’s brilliant, you’ve done half and you’ve got another half to go, but by that point the runners are dispersed a bit more. So if you’re looking out for someone in particular, you’re more likely to see them kind of further along the course. So it’s just great. And yeah, the atmosphere right outside, you’ve got the iconic Wales Millennium Centre in the background. You’re looking out over the bay and the barrage. And if the weather’s nice, it’s it makes for a really nice day as well. So yeah, I love the bay.
Liz: How many people are running for Team Shelter Cymru this year?
Kerys: Well, we’ve got 100 strong team this year. So yeah, numbers are really, really good. It’s consistent with Swansea Half, but yeah, it makes me feel really proud to know that throughout the course that day there’ll be, you know, at least 100 people out there wearing the Shelter Cymru T-shirt and just making every step matter in support of our cause. I just think it’s brilliant and kudos to them all.
Liz: When people are training, that can be pretty tough, do you think it makes a big difference knowing that you’re raising funds to help people who are facing and experiencing homelessness?
Kerys: Yeah, I think so. I think if you’re going to sign up for something like this, people have different motivations, don’t they? I mean, a lot of people do this thing quite regularly. You know, they’ll sign up for lots of different events throughout the year. And some of them will do it because they’re passionate about the charity that they’re trying to support. They might be doing it for health reasons, well-being, mental health. But I think if you’re running and you’ve hit a wall or your legs are hurting or something, and or you’re just like questioning your life choices, I think just knowing that you know what you’re actually doing is making a difference. It’s having some impact. And when you get to that finish line, you know, you’ve raised funds that the charity that you’re running for are going to put to excellent use, and I think it does make a big, big difference definitely.
Liz: So, moving on to World Homeless Day. Could you give us a bit of background? How long has it been running for and what are some of the aims?
Kerys: I’m not sure how long it’s been running, actually, it’s just something that I’ve always kind of known about really. It’s an international day that’s observed on the 10 October every year. And I think, unlike other international days and observances, it’s not really a platform for you know, masses of celebration. I think for us, it’s more an opportunity for us to amplify the progress that we’ve made in the 40 plus years since we’ve been here to advocate for improved policies and just use it to say thank you to the many, many people throughout Wales who are supporting our work and helping us to prevent and end homelessness. It’s a big milestone in our calendar really and it’s something that’s increased importance to us as the years have gone on and we mark lots of days here at Shelter Cymru, don’t we? Funnily enough, 10 October is also world Mental Health Day, which I know is really, really important too. But this one for us, it just makes us shout a little bit louder on that one day a year and it’s great to get our partners involved as well.
Liz: I understand you’ve been working hard with one of our corporate partners, HSBC, to launch Shelter Cymru Friends. Could you tell us a bit more about that project and why World Homeless Day is such a good time to launch?
Kerys: Yeah, I’m really excited about this one, actually. We’ve been working on this for a good 18 months and yeah, Shelter Cymru Friends. It’s an initiative that we’ve developed to try and increase understanding of homelessness and unsafe housing for us. It’s definitely an education tool. It’s free to access. It’ll be a 20-minute web or a workshop delivered by someone in our team with a Q&A at the end. And then once you’ve kind of gone through that webinar session, you’re then classed as a Shelter Cymru Friend and I think World Homeless Day is a really opportune time to get that out there and to say to community groups and businesses and schools. You know, we’ve got this thing that can really help make you more informed citizens and we get asked all the time: “What do I do if I see someone on the streets who might need my help? At what point do I, you know, call for help? Do I call you? What do I do if I if I know someone who’s struggling paying their rent? Where do I go?” And I think Shelter Cymru Friends is a way to first and foremost explain to people what homelessness actually is and the many guises that it can take and then also our part in that. And what Shelter Cymru does to help nearly 22,000 people a year who are living in poor housing. Or they’re facing homelessness or already experiencing homelessness. So for us, it’s an education tool, but I think it will connect us with lots of groups in communities across Wales.
Liz: Am I right in thinking the Fundraising team are organising bucket collections right across Wales? Perhaps you could talk us through those. Where will you be and when and how can people get involved?
Kerys: Yeah, definitely. Well, we’re 10 October, World Homeless Day. We’re going to be in various locations. So we’ve got bucket collections booked in Wrexham, Pontypridd, Ebbw Vale, Cardiff, Swansea and we’re just dispersing really to have a greater presence in communities across Wales, tell them about the great work that our colleagues at Shelter Cymru are doing and the impact they’re having and hopefully generate some funds towards our work at the same time too. But bucket collections happen all throughout the year all throughout Wales, so if anyone ever does want to get involved then you know, don’t just wait for October to come around, Christmas is soon after and we’ll be doing more of the same then, so lots of opportunities to get involved.
Liz: If people are listening to this wanting to get involved, whether that’s signing up for a fundraising event, or as a volunteer, how can they do that?
Kerys: Well, if you see us out and about, come and speak to us, we love having conversations with people and connecting with people. So yeah, come and speak to one of the team. Otherwise we’ve got a designated inbox that people can e-mail, whether it’s a suggestion for an event or you want to volunteer for us. We just love hearing feedback from people. So yeah: [email protected] and we’ll connect you with someone in the team.
Liz: OK, I should let you get back to planning and preparation! Diolch yn fawr iawn for joining us today.
8 October 2025
By Liz Day
