This was an invitation to a Christmas event, but not one where anyone walked away with a wrapped present. The ask was a few hours as a volunteer, for people who needed the help.
Friends from politics and civic life packed food parcels for people sleeping rough and other vulnerable people in London. Helping Hands, on Friday 17 December, was the end of months of work sourcing decent ingredients and finding volunteers.
We met at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, and needed people to help with packing between 10.30am and 3pm. It followed a year in which the same effort had provided more than 2,000 hot meals for homeless people and some of the most vulnerable neighbours in Lambeth and Southwark.
One day does not change the fact that thousands of people sleep rough, and that charities across London depend on staff, volunteers and donors all year. The organisers of Helping Hands were the first to say so. I have seen that work in Lambeth, where I am a councillor, and across London.