An effort to help the homeless is flying high after officially becoming a registered charity.

Urban Angels joined forces for the first time with their youth branch Urban Cherubs to celebrate the launch of their official status.

The registration means that the team are now able to accept donations and gain support from corporate partners.

The younger members started to join the organisation after founder Lisa Patnick asked the youth council of Hertsmere Borough Council to support her.

She said: “I am beyond excited about what the cherubs are going to do, even after the meeting some of them were texting me about what they wanted to do.

“They are part of our team, but it is their own ideas that they are putting forward, and some of their suggestions are incredible.

“Children now are growing up in a bubble where they have everything, and it is important that they see what is happening in our streets as they are the ones that can stop this.”

Now the doors are open to anyone aged 11-17 who has parental consent and wants to work towards ending homelessness.

The Cherub’s are now under the care of dentist Dan Shasser and Elstree and Borehamwood youth council coordinator Leanne Altberg who Lisa says are there to “make sure they fly but still have their wings clipped.”

The organisation developed organically after Lisa was asked by a friend for any spare clothes she had.

After taking to the streets, she could not believe what she was seeing and decided to launch a campaign on Facebook which went viral, and Urban Angels was started in November last year.

On his ninth birthday her son Harry decided to donate his birthday cake to the cause after seeing his mum take to the streets to help those in need, and he asked her to cut it up and give it to the homeless.

She said: “We went up to Manchester, and outside Piccadilly Station we saw 20 bodies in near freezing weather, and my sons could not believe what they were seeing.

“I explained to them that these people have nowhere to live and Harry decided he did not want his birthday cake any more.

“The cake was a brilliant way to start a conversation with people. Homeless people cannot eat an apple as their teeth may fall out, but cake goes a long way.

“It has become a symbol of ours, we use the emoji on our Facebook page and support for our cause has grown through going viral on social media.

“After my first campaign, I saw that lots of people wanted to help, they just didn’t know how.”

Lisa aims to roll the charity out nationwide, as there are homeless communities in every big town or city where people need help.