Charlie Hennessy was homeless. It hadn’t been an easy road for him.

Then, a kind person gave the Londoner their old phone. He stumbled upon free wifi and subsequently took one giant step towards removing the stigma attached to homelessness.

He created a Twitter account, and wrote a short bio: “#homeless but trying not to be. Looking for work. Will do anything. clean&sober for 6 years. On the up.”

It all started with a short tweet.

I’m #homeless.

Not evil.

I’m not stupid or on drugs or violent or dishonest or crazy or greedy or diseased or drunk or likely to kill you.

If you met me in better circumstances you’d like me, I’m a nice guy. I just don’t currently have a home. That’s all it is.

— Charlie Hennessy (@CharlieBinbags) March 7, 2018

The viral tweet humanised homeless people all around the world. The reaction was swift and uplifting.

Within days Charlie’s tweet had been met with thousands of messages of love and support, donations of money and a permanent place for him to live and, most importantly, job interviews.

Someone even lent him a suit.

So many offers of help, so much kindness, but I want to stand on own feet. I was caught in bad loop, but thanks to kindness of friends n strangers, I’ve a hand up (not a hand out!). Many not so lucky as me, spare a thought for the next rough sleeper you see & acknowledge them x

— Charlie Hennessy (@CharlieBinbags) March 9, 2018

It took eight days for the world to see a person in Charlie. A person who deserved what others were lucky enough to receive in life. It took eight days to pull Charlie out of homelessness.

Astonishing week. 8 days ago I was given an old phone.

I joined #Twitter.

Now I have 961 new friends, people have helped me in ways I never imagined, food, money, love, support. Tomorrow I have a job interview. If you have an old phone, why not give it to a #homeless person? https://t.co/BsbVa5Wi03

— Charlie Hennessy (@CharlieBinbags) March 15, 2018

Through a series of simple tweets, Charlie rallied for a simple cause: kindness. Its effects pulled him out a dark place, and as Charlie hopes, a continuing flow of kindness might just do that same for homeless people everywhere.

We’ll leave you with this, from Charlie: