Meet the incredible 10-year-old who has made a huge difference to the lives of Manchester’s homeless.

Over the past 12 months, school girl Mia Cotterill has helped dozens of rough sleepers in the city centre by handing out clothing, sleeping bags and toiletries.

She is now hoping to go one-step further by starting her very own meals on wheels service and has been selling home-made cakes to raise cash for containers which she can use to transport food.

Proud mum Janine says the Wardley Primary School pupil, who lives in Swinton, was inspired to help the homeless after seeing the number of people living on Manchester’s streets.

The 42-year-old said: “It was November 2016, we went into town and Mia saw how many homeless people there were. It really upset her, and she said she wanted to do something to help them.

“She made some flyers and went round asking people to save their old clothes, in particular hats and scarves and gloves. I put a post on Facebook too and we had loads of donations.

“We sorted them all out and loaded up the car and went into the city centre and if we saw a homeless person we’d stop and ask them if there was anything they needed.

“Mia has done it about four or five times since Christmas, she’s got some of her friends involved too.

“Last week she hosted a cake sale to raise money for food containers and ingredients so we can make meals and take them out to people.

“I work at The Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre and they were really supportive, with people matching what we’d raised to boost the money.

“Everyone has been so lovely.”

Janine, who helps Mia along with husband Paul, 35, added: “She is such a kind-hearted little thing and she never gets any recognition for it. We just want her to know how amazing she is for doing what she’s doing.”

And it’s not just Mia who has been doing her bit for the community in Greater Manchester.

He's on a mission to help his elderly neighbours

Steven Simmons has been helping out his elderly neighbours in Tameside by making it his life’s mission to make sure they have mobility scooters to get around.

The 31-year-old was inspired to lend a hand after he spotted an old woman battling to push her husband up a hill in a wheelchair in Hyde.

Immediately, Steven jumped out of the van he was in and went over to help.

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A video of him pushing the man was posted on social media and was shared hundreds of times by users praising him for his good deed.

Shortly afterwards, Steve received a message offering him two mobility scooters for the couple at a next to nothing price, so he bought them and went and dropped them off.

Since then, he and several friends, have helped dozens of people maintain their independence by raising cash for and collecting donated scooters.

The 'legend' cleaning up your local park

Next there’s Ken Hallworth, the 59-year-old who each morning walks around his local park in Stockport with dog Apollo, picking up litter and even replacing bin bags in public bins.

Earlier this year, an image of him brushing up broken glass in North Reddish Park was shared hundreds of times on Facebook, with people branding him a ‘legend’ and ‘top man’ for his daily efforts to keep the area clean and tidy.

He saw someone in trouble... so he saved a life

Then, the off-duty doctor that saved the life of a four-year-old boy who accidentally swallowed his lunch money.

Dr Abdul Ashish was driving to work in Lowton, near Wigan, when he saw a car in front of him swerve sharply to the left and stopped to see what was wrong.

The medic discovered Stefan Balogun had swallowed a £1 coin was struggling to breathe, so he used the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge it from the child’s windpipe.

The beat bobbies who cleaned up

In Rochdale, kind-heared beat bobbies went the extra mile when they swept, cleaned and tidied the house of a disabled woman who had been trapped for days by her own scooter.

A female officer and female PCSO visited the lady at her home in Castleton after she called them for help. They said it was clear the lady had been stuck ‘for a few days’, and to help her out, did her washing up, as well as sweeping and tidying up, and putting her shopping, which had been delivered, away for her.

Reunited with his family after a random act of kindness

And of course there was the homeless man who was reunited with his family after a woman’s random act of kindness.

Bev O’Connor, 50, noticed the rough sleeper in a bus stop in Chadderton and decided to help.

She went into nearby Baguettes of Broadway sandwich shop and handed owner Ciaran Egan £15 to give the homeless man breakfast and hot drinks for a week.

Then in a strange twist of fate, Bev realised she recognised the rough sleeper, and that he was in fact the brother of a former work colleague.

She managed to find his number and by the following morning the brother had driven from Morecambe to Chadderton and picked the homeless man up.

Picking up the bill, and saving Christmas

Not forgetting the Good Samaritan who paid for a mum’s Christmas shopping after her bank card was declined.

Jemma Evans, 22, left Lush at into Trafford Centre and went off to find a cash machine and to ring her bank.

But when she returned ten minutes later, staff revealed that a kind-hearted customer had already paid the £43 for her goods.

The homeless man who was determined to do the right thing

We also have last week’s tale about a homeless man who scoured the streets of Bolton to reunite a woman with her lost handbag?

‘Paul’ pounded the pavements for two days asking people if they knew the woman whose ID was in the bag along with her iPhone, purse and keys before eventually finding her.

Owner Daisy Owens was so grateful for his selflessness, she launched a fundraising campaign to help get him a home, which has already raised more than £2,300 in just a week.

Know this bloke? The anonymous selfie star...

Talking of returning lost property, remember this?

The stranger who found a phone in the changing rooms of H&M in Bury and handed it in – but not before snapping a quick selfie.

Allison White posted on Facebook after she was reunited with the device, which contained sentimental photos of her newborn son: “THANK YOU TO THIS MAN. He did the right thing and handed the phone in to staff at H&M. It’s a nice thing to know there are decent people in the world.”

The random vending machine wizard

And finally, the kind-hearted stranger who paid for vending machine treats at The Christie, Withington, and left a note explaining how they wanted to ‘brighten up someone’s day’.

The poster was left on the hospital machine inviting people to help themselves to the snacks.

It read: “Please find a variety of snacks in the bottom of this machine that have been paid for. I simply wanted to perform some random act of kindness to try and brighten up someone’s day. Hopefully there will be something in there for you to enjoy. Finally, if you can, try and spread the kindness.”

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