MOST teenagers want to spend their birthday partying rather than pounding the streets of Oxford in a hunt for rough sleepers.

But Thais De Souza will be doing just that in a bid to ensure homeless people in the city are kept a bit warmer this Christmas.

The 14-year-old has collected about 100 duvets, coats, scarves, hats and gloves and will hand them out on Saturday.

She said she was inspired after realising there were a lot of people sleeping rough in Oxford.

The Kidlington teenager, who turns 15 tomorrow, said: “I wanted to do something special for my birthday and it just came to me.

“I thought I really wanted to do something different, not to celebrate my birthday as such but I just wanted to give things to people who need them.

“At first I thought I would help one person but then I thought it would be good to help the whole city.

“I realised that in Oxford especially there are a lot of homeless people and there seems to have been more over the past couple of months.

“With Christmas approaching they are going to be cold and I did not want them to feel they were left behind.”

Thais asked friends and family to donate money to her cause and spent it buying clothing and duvets from charity shops around the county.

She and a group of 11 others will seek out rough sleepers when they go out between midnight and 3am on Saturday.

The Gosford Hill School pupil said: “We know where a lot of homeless people sleep so we know where they will be when we go out.

“We will give them out when they are going to sleep so they will be able to sleep warm.”

Thais’ generosity comes just weeks after it was announced funding for Simon House Hostel in Oxford and Julian Housing – based in Oxford and Abingdon – was to be scrapped.

But along with her group of friends and family – made up of Cleonice De Souza, Thamyris De Souza, Renaldo Souza, Max Well Da Silva, Elba Reis, Maicon Jones, Alex Santos, Jose Arildo, Miriam Ribeiro and Caroline Middleton – she hopes to bring some respite from the harsh weather.

She said: “I have been collecting these items for nearly a month and it is a nice feeling because I can see that people want to help out.

“We are also planning to go and do this again in London, Swindon and Basingstoke so that more people can benefit from it.

“This is the first big charity thing that I have ever done.

“I wanted to start with something small that was big enough to help a lot of people.

To donate money or items to Thais and her friends call 07789 293691.