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It's not often you see a six-year-old make a packed lunch, let alone deliver it to a homeless community.

But that's what Milly Matthews spent her Saturday afternoon doing when she distributed home-made packed lunches to Bristol’s homeless community.

The selfless six-year-old gave up her time to make 18 lunches – each bearing a handwritten message – for people sleeping rough in the city centre.

Mum Emma said she was inspired to do something after a homeless man approached them and asked for some spare change, reports the Bristol Post.

It was the first time Milly had witnessed the harsh realities of homelessness, an issue she struggled to comprehend.

(Image: Bristol Post)

“We were waiting in a car in Shirehampton,” Emma explained, “and a homeless man asked us for some change.

“I didn’t have any at the time so he left but Milly was really confused. She had never come across a homeless person before.

“She went for a swimming lesson and even when that finished, she was thinking about it still. Milly couldn’t get over the fact that homeless people didn’t live in a house, or have a pillow to sleep on.

“She asked me, ‘well, what about when it rains at night?’”

(Image: Bristol Post)

Upon returning home, Milly set about devising a plan to solve Bristol’s homelessness – which initially included buying every person a meal from McDonald’s.

Quickly realising her pocket money wouldn’t stretch quite that far, she accompanied mum Emma on her weekly shop to buy things to make packed lunches instead.

“She had a list and she ticked things off as she went around the shop,” Emma added.

(Image: Bristol Post)

But simply buying the items wasn’t enough for young Milly, who spent her Saturday morning – with a little help from her parents and four-year-old sister Ruby – making sandwiches, collecting carrier bags from neighbours to transport the lunches and handwriting personalised messages.

She then spent more than two hours walking through the city centre, handing out her 18 packed lunches as she went.

Emma, 28, said: “When we first saw a homeless person, she was really quite nervous.

(Image: Bristol Post)

“But she went up to him with Ruby by her side and asked if he would like a lunch, which he accepted and said ‘thank you very much’.

“She walked away with the biggest smile on her face – she was just so happy.

“She made 18 lunches in total and we gave out 15. She’s feeling very proud of herself, and I’m really proud of her too.

“Milly is such a sweet, little girl and to see her smile the way she did, knowing she had helped make a difference to someone else, was lovely.”