TWO YORK friends have come up with an innovative resource to help homeless people in the city.

Steph McCusker and Sarah Myler, of Huntington, aka The Lunar Project, started handing out provisions to rough sleepers in May 2017.

After witnessing the specific needs of the women on their radar, on their twice-weekly evening rounds in York - dubbed Moonwalks - they quickly became active campaigners against period poverty and have subsequently gone through the complex process of registering the Project as a charity.

Now they have come up with an ingenious solution to another problem - the Lunar Directory, a resource which contains contacts for a range of services that people on the streets most need.

Steph, 33, said: “We realised the people we were interacting with had multiple pieces of paper, which got soggy or lost.

“Without access to information on the internet, it’s hard to keep track of all the services on offer.”

Included in the directory are details for a range of support and advice services, as well as the Lunar Project’s own details.

The directory, which is distributed by Steph and Sarah as well as professionals mentioned in it, is pocket sized and, as it is printed on polymer paper, is indestructible.

It was printed by Kolorcraft in Ossett, who took the pals’ ideas and turned them into reality.

Steph said: “They’ve been amazing and so supportive, we can’t thank them enough.

“We’re so proud of it. It’s getting where it needs to go and reaching people it needs to reach. We’d love to see one in every city.”

Sarah, 35, added: “We even found out a lot about services that we didn’t know about.”

They now have something similar to the directory for men’s mental health services in the pipeline.

To find out more about how to donate go to @lunarprojectyork (Facebook) or @lunarprojectuk (Twitter).