As Maya Angelou stated ‘People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’. On Sunday 29 January 2017 Streets Revolution most definitely provided an unforgettable experience for the homeless.

At Oxford University Club Pitches, Oxford JSoc played a game of football against a team of 8 homeless men. The event was organised by Streets Revolution, who proudly go by the motto ‘Changing the world, one person at a time’. To many people playing in a friendly football match is just a mere part of one’s daily life, but for these men it was perhaps one of the most enjoyable and entertaining activities that they will take part in all year.

One of the teenagers from Oxford, Eli Bond, affirmed “At first everyone was unsure as to how the day would go, but from the moment the referee blew his whistle and we saw how excited these men were, we immediately knew it was going to be worth it.” Yet still for Mr. Bond this wasn’t the most memorable part. He stated “I will never forget the glimmer in this one man’s eyes when we shook hands after the very well played match and he said just two words: ‘Thank you’. It wasn’t much, but the smile on his face showed that he will forever remember the laughter and pleasure experienced in those two hours. It was truly wonderful.'

In a world where we sometimes forget there are many that are less fortunate than ourselves, it is extremely heart-warming when we see such young men becoming involved in their community. Streets Revolution are a wonderful charity who strive to unite everybody, regardless of status, and today they did this. They took two groups of men from very different backgrounds and brought them together to demonstrate that no matter what our situation is in life, we are all the same.


On this date, 8 university students improved the lives of 8 homeless men.

Annabelle Simmonds - Sydenham High School