Harry Styles has kindly donated the fee for the use of his hit song ‘Treat People with Kindness’ –featured in Marks and Spencer’s 2022 Christmas advert – to Centrepoint.
The M&S campaign titled ‘Gifts that Give’ draws on their charitable partnership with giving platform, Neighbourly, which will raise £1 million for 1000 local community groups to help meeting rising pressures on services.
This tremendous act of kindness comes at a crucial time in Centrepoint history: our research shows around 30,000 young people will face homelessness in England this winter as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.
Thousands of vulnerable young people are being pushed to their limit this winter – financially, physically and mentally, they’re being driven to their breaking point.
We estimate there will be a 33% increase in the homeless population in England by 2024 if we don’t take swift and meaningful action. That’s why we’ve launched our most ambitious fundraising campaign to date: to help support young people in need, and to end young homelessness once and for all.
Harry Styles donated the fee for the use of his hit song ‘Treat People with Kindness’ to Centrepoint
To be connected to one of the year’s most hopeful and buoyant music anthems is a poignant reminder of the power of music in helping homeless young people move on from the traumas of their past. Music is a therapeutic tool, and gives young vulnerable people an outlet for their experiences.
Our Bursary scheme helped Centrepoint resident Paul to buy a weighted keyboard so he could complete his Music Technology course at college. Paul enjoys playing classical piano, and for him it’s a form of meditation: “I just go into my own world and forget everything.”
This powerful connection to music is something Mr and Mrs Andrews know all too well – they donated a music suite to Centrepoint in memory of their son Chris, who died age 23 and was a passionate musician. His suite continues to help vulnerable young people use creativity as an outlet for what they’re feeling.
It is donations both big and small that make a difference to the young people Centrepoint helps. A regular gift, a Christmas card for a friend, In Memory Giving, a donation from Harry Styles: all these acts of kindness help support homeless young people and help them move on to independence.
Donate to Centrepoint's Christmas appeal here.
Read more about the young people Centrepoint supports here.