Selkirk nine-year-old asking Santa to help homeless

When filling out her requests to Father Christmas this year, Katelynn Wallis was thinking about more than her own stocking and decided she wanted to help the homeless as well.

And now she is set to go the extra mile – or six – to fulfil that aspiration by walking from her home in the town’s Chapel Street to Galashiels this Friday, December 13, to raise money for the homelessness charity Crisis.

Katelynn’s mum Nikki explained: “It was on her list to Santa that Katelynn said she wanted to donate some money to a charity.

“After I spoke to her about it, she said she had found out about all these poor people who were less fortunate than ourselves and she was very concerned that they don’t have a home to go to at night.

“We had a cleanout of her toys she wanted to donate, but she wanted to do more.

“She likes walking, so she decided to walk to Galashiels this Friday, accompanied by me, and is looking for sponsorship to raise more money for Crisis in order to reserve a few spaces for the homeless at one of their centres.

“She really is an amazing young lady.”

Nikki has printed off sponsor forms, available in the reception at Selkirk Dental, and they have brought in £85 to date, and an online appeal at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/KatelynnWallis has added £100 so far.

It costs Crisis £28 to take in a homeless person per night, so Katelynn’s well on her way to making sure several have a roof over their heads this Christmas.