COMEDIAN Gary Faulds has admitted spending a night on Glasgow’s streets was one of the “scariest” experiences of his life.
The 32-year-old spent the night alongside the Help the Homeless Glasgow (HTHG) team on Saturday to highlight the city’s ongoing crisis.
Gary spent time handing out food to those less fortunate and walking miles through the city centre streets to provide help to homeless people in need.
And despite around a decade in the armed forces, the comedian was left stunned at the brutal reality of spending a night on our cold streets.
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“Ten minutes into us getting settled down we were offered heroin by someone,” he told the Evening Times.
“That really opened my eyes.
“I was pretty shocked at what I saw. There were five fights, people offering us drugs and a bunch of people throwing stuff at us.
“They thought we were homeless, so it makes you feel sorry for the people who spend every night on the streets.
“And for someone to offer us drugs within ten minutes of being settled down, there’s no wonder why there’s such a big drugs problem.
“It’s hard enough in the cold as it is. Whenever I’m having a tough time it’s easy just to have a beer, so if someone is on the street is offered something no numb the pain, of course they’re going to take it.
Slept rough last night to help raise the profile for @HTH_Glasgow sleepout event on 14th December. Thanks to Anton (behind me) one of the organisers for doing it with me and introducing me to all the homeless. And thanks to everyone who stopped and got selfies with the poster ❤️ pic.twitter.com/8hPlx5MfIp
— Gary Faulds (@GaryFaulds1) November 24, 2019
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“It really changed my perspective on people with addiction – many people probably weren’t even addicted until they became homeless.”
Gary went to school with Anton Reilly, one of the organisers at HTHG, who are planning a sleepout on Argyle Street on December 14 to raise awareness of the issue.
He says Anton got in touch asking if he could share a poster for the event on his social media channels – but Gary wanted to go one further.
He added: “The charity is really amazing, it’s all about people helping people who want to be helped.
“It was humbling to hand out food for people, helping people who really need it.
“It was really nice to get hands on see what’s going on in the streets.
“I plan to get involved a lot more on stuff like this.”
READ MORE: Glasgow homeless crisis: Warning of 'corpses on the street' this winter
But the comedian says the night on the street was no laughing matter – admitting that he didn’t sleep for the whole night.
Gary said: “When I was on the ground I was scared. Anton was with me but even still it was scary.
"I’ve spent 10 years in the army but that was one of the scariest nights I’ve had.
“I found that on the streets, if people were nice, they were really nice and generous, but there was no middle ground.
“The only time I felt safe was when there were police near us.
“When I came home this morning, I got in at around 7.30am and went to bed for a little bit. When I woke up I was so upset, I couldn’t stop crying.
“I’m back in my flat after just one night, but there are people back on the streets who have to deal with it.”
Anton Reilly said: “It was great to have Gary out last night, helping at the table and talking to everyone really gave them a lift.”
And he hopes to have a considerable number of people taking to Argyle Street on December 14 for their sleep out.
Anton added: “We have had a good response with the event so far I think it's very important to raise awareness and at the say time hopefully gather some sleeping bags to pass on to our friends in the streets.”
You can find out more about the group by searching Help the Homeless, Glasgow on Facebook.
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