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Lexi-mai Hoodless, aged 8, surprised her mum when she wrote to Santa to ask him to help the homeless population during the festive season.

Lexi-mai, who lives in the Oak Tree area, wrote her annual Christmas letter to santa saying: “I would like to help the homeless and animals.

“I would like to do that on Christmas Day and help people, and make my family happy and proud.”

Mum Sarah, 36, said the whole family is 'very proud' of Lexi-Mai, after she took a stand for those less fortunate.

Sarah said: “The note brought a tear to my eye.

“We do see homeless people when we’re out in Mansfield, and Lexi-Mai can get quite emotional.

“She sees homeless people with dogs as well, and always wants to do something to help.

“She’s a very thoughtful girl, she asked me if we had a duvet we could give to someone who is sleeping in the streets.”

Lexi-mai, who is the youngest of five children, also asked Santa to help the homeless when he visited her street on his sleigh.

“Everyone was speechless,” added Sarah.

“It’s just not what you expect an eight year old to ask Santa for, but it does play on her mind when she sees people sleeping rough.”

Sarah added that the family are now considering helping at a soup kitchen this Christmas, so that Lexi-mai can see first hand how people can help.

An estimated 320,000 people are homeless in the UK, according to the latest research by Shelter.

This equates to one in every 201 Brits and was an increase of four per cent on the previous year's number.

If you want to help those less fortunate this Christmas, you can contact:

Mansfield youngster asks Santa to help the homeless this Christmas