A mother and her young daughter who faced living on the streets this Christmas are now staying in a four-star hotel over the festive period thanks to a charity.
Kirsty McKeown and daughter Orla-Rosabella, seven, were left stranded at Hull Paragon station surrounded by their possessions in several bags around them.
Only a few months ago, Kirsty had been running her own food project to help the needy - only to find herself in desperate need.
But Hull Live reports that having been evicted from a traveller site in Nottingham, Kirsty travelled to Hull on the invitation of her ex-boyfriend only to be told she could not stay with him because his accommodation is run by a charity.
She said: “We were illegally evicted from a traveller site in Nottingham and stayed with friends for a short while.
“My ex-boyfriend told me I could come up to Hull and stay with him but the accommodation was run by [a charity].
“We contacted different organisations who told us to get back on a train to Nottingham.
“Hull City Council said it cannot help me until December 27 and if we had to sleep on the streets or in the station I was worried they would take my daughter away.
“I was resigned to spending Christmas Eve sleeping in a train station waiting room but how can you have a seven-year-old do that?”
Kirsty admits the way life has spiralled in the last year, leaving them homeless, has been alarming.
She said: “This time last year I was running my own food project in Wiltshire and this is where we are now. This is our life right here in these bags.
“We were told there may be a hotel room going and we have been waiting anxiously since 11am on Christmas Eve.”
Luckily, there was good news for Kirsty and Orla-Rasabella, as a homeless project called Raise the Roof managed to find a room for them in the DoubleTree by Hilton.
Kirsty said: “I feel really relieved. We had already spent nights in 24-hour Asdas and in coach waiting rooms.
“It was not the Christmas I wanted for my daughter but now we have somewhere comfortable and safe to stay. It has saved our Christmas.”
But the good will did not end there and it became something akin to a Hollywood festive feel-good movie.
Firstly, staff from the Hilton and Raise the Roof went to Tesco for some gifts, which the store then matched.
Louis Horton was the reception supervisor at the Hilton who checked the homeless in.
He said: “We noticed there was a seven-year-old girl among them who wouldn't have gifts.
“I and Dean Webster from Raise the Roof immediately went to Tesco. Nathan the security manager said whatever me and Dean spent Tesco would double.
“When we got to the till with around £60 worth of items we met Gordon the Tesco night manager, he told us to go back into the store and get confectionery and anything we wanted for the little girl and that it would all be completely free!
"They really deserve some praise. They didn’t have to do what they did and many managers wouldn’t have.
“They are going to find her accommodation after Boxing Day but i have made a personal promise that if she is ever on the street with the child she can go into the hotel and ask for me.”
It got even better for Kirsty and Orla-Rosabella as Foxy and Tank Cars also stepped in and surprised them with Santa visiting them in their room bearing gifts.
The pictures above show how overwhelmed the mum and daughter were by yet another kind gesture.
If you got the chance to ask God one question, what would it be?