A GYM-OWNER is providing tents, sleeping bags, camp beds and clothes to homeless people he got to know on a night out.

Sam Levett handed out the supplies to homeless people in Brighton from the back of his car on Tuesday as part of his new charity, Tent 4 the Homeless.

The 29-year-old said: “I was in the city on a night out a few Fridays ago and the weather was horrendous.

“I saw so many homeless people around the city and thought ‘if they didn’t have to be there, they wouldn’t be’, so I knew I wanted to help.”

During the night, Sam, who owns TGM Fitness Centre in East Grinstead, sat down with Phil Walker, a 34-year-old homeless man from Brighton, and spent the night getting to know him.

He has since done the same with several other rough sleepers in the city.

Phil said: “Sam came over to me and started talking to me about his ideas for a charity to help out homeless people in the city.

“A lot of people talk to you and claim they are going to help, but he actually came through, he’s doing it for us.

“Since we met, he has spoken to me every week, he’s a legend.”

Sam uses his day off on a Tuesday to visit Brighton and help the homeless people he has met, including Karl Reilly, 45, who has been homeless for more than two decades.

Karl said: “I became homeless after my marriage fell apart.

“The little things often have the biggest impacts, someone saying hello to me in the morning can make my day.

“What Sam is doing will make a massive difference, by giving ten of us these tents, it means ten more of us will stay alive this Christmas.”

Sam used money raised by the charity and his own funds to purchase the equipment, and handed out clothes that were donated by members and employees of his gym.

When handing the material out, he made it clear that there were rules for its use.

Sam said: “This is theirs to use for life now, but it’s been bought with money from myself, my family and my friends.

“So I certainly don’t want to come back in two weeks and see that it has been disrespected.

“I tell people that there are rules like ‘don’t put the tent up when you’re drunk, this stuff is made to last’.”

Sam plans to continue visiting Brighton each Tuesday to continue his work, and also intends to raise money in the new year by carrying 200kg of weights between Cheetahs Gym, Hove, and Brighton Palace Pier.