A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD has delivered £100 of groceries to the homeless after giving up his birthday presents to help them.

Little Nathan Fionda-Porter’s eyes were opened to the problem of homelessness when he saw rough sleepers for the first time during a family holiday to London.

When he returned to his Ingleby Barwick home, he begged his mother to be allowed to help the homeless in his own community, wanting to donate his pocket money to those he spotted sleeping rough in Middlesbrough.

With his birthday approaching, the Ingleby Mill pupil eventually decided to ask everyone attending his party to donate money instead of buying him gifts.

He raised £100 and then went shopping with his family to buy groceries and toiletries to handover to Middlesbrough’s Hugs for the Homeless organisation.

Mark-James Testo provided Nathan with a shopping list so that he had an understanding of where his money would go.

Mr Testo, who launched HFTH with family and friends in 2015, then invited Nathan to meet those he was helping and presented him with a certificate of appreciation.

He said: “It is absolutely amazing that someone as young as seven can understand this problem and want to do their best to help.

“That a seven-year-old recognises there is an issue also shows how big the problem is.

“Nathan has gone out of his way to help and if there were more adults like him, we would not have the problems we do.”

Nathan’s mother, Lisa Fionda-Porter, said his family were incredibly proud of the little boy’s sensitivity and empathy.

She said: “He is just a normal boy but he couldn’t understand why people had to sleep on the street and kept asking me if he could give all of his savings to help them.

“He’d invited his whole class to his birthday party and would have probably received a lot of toys and gifts he wouldn’t have played with as he’s very into his sports and his computer.

“When we took him to deliver the groceries, he received a big round of applause from those he was helping – he was very nervous but otherwise took the experience in his stride.

“It has helped him to understand that everyone is different, some people have problems and that if someone needs help, you can help them.”

For more information, visit the Hugs for the Homeless page on Facebook.