TO stop life for the homeless from getting worse, Alice Goss is turning to verse.

Sleeping rough really does suck, so to help, she’s compiling a poetry book.

Alice came up with the Colchester Community Poetry Project also as a way of raising awareness of homelessness in the borough.

The historian and marketing consultant is working with the homeless charity Emmaus Colchester and the social enterprise GO4 Café in Holy Trinity Church, which helps the unemployed.

Launched last month, Alice hopes to raise £8,500 in online donations and £15,000-£20,000 from sales of the book, which expects to have a print run of 1,000.

Some 100 poems are sought for the 200-250 page hardback, with them all relating to Colchester.

The contributions are needed by the end of the month.

Alice said: “Some poems have already been donated and I have received some financial donations. I am meeting with Emmaus this week to discuss exactly what they money will be used for.”

Around a quarter will help go towards providing accommodation, with the remainder to support other projects such as the St Peter’s Guest House and the GO4 café.

“This is a project for the people of Colchester. The only way for them to get behind it is to write a good poem or donate a fiver. Together, we can achieve a lot.”

“I want to hear from people who can write good poetry and those who can’t, can always donate through the GoFundMe page.”

A Facebook Page has also been launched to detail progress on the project: ww.facebook.com/ColchesterPoetryProject/ Poetry contributions can be sent to Alice via alice555uk@yahoo.com and the GoFundMe page is at www.gofundme.com/colchester-community-poetry-project