A MAN has set up a homeless support charity in memory of his ‘kind and giving’ mother who died of cancer.

Amer Ansar set up Rise Support after his mother, Raqiya Ansar, died of bile duct cancer in October after a six-month battle with the disease.

The 32-year-old accountant said after coming to terms with his mum’s death he wanted to set up the charity to support homeless people, a group his mother never neglected.

He said: “When someone in need asked for money or food, my mum would help.

“We would walk past anyone and she’d give them something. Even if it was just a pound, it was something.

“She was a kind and giving woman and was diagnosed with cancer when she was 58.

“It was unusual for someone her age to be diagnosed with that form of cancer.”

Mr Ansar, from Nelson, said his mother used to run A1 Fashion in the town for several years before becoming a housewife and cared for her five other sons and one daughter.

Inspired by his mum's caring nature, the former Nelson and Colne College student visited Uganda in February to help support children and was shocked by the level of poverty.

He said: “The children and families over there I saw were unbelievably hungry.

“It helped me understand how much of a desperate situation people can be in.

“I want to change the futures for people over here in Nelson and Burnley and hopefully those across East Lancashire.”

The group held its first community event on Mother’s Day and cleared up litter from the Walton Lane cemetery in Nelson, where his mother is buried.

Mr Ansar said: “We intend to raise funds to give basic necessities such as food, toothbrushes, socks, towels and sleeping bags to give to the homeless across Lancashire.

“At Rise Support we believe our community is strong and united.

“My mum was a big part of our lives and she kept us all together.

“She will have wanted me to do something like this because it was in her heart to help people. I want to leave behind a legacy for her.”

A fundraising stall will be set up at Nelson Market on Friday, while volunteers go litter picking and sell cakes and decorations.

Mr Ansar said: “By the end of the month we hope to have our first soup kitchen event up and running. I am speaking to the food banks in Nelson. I hope we can be a role model for the younger generations.”