Ellie Goulding urges Londoners to bid in final charity auction as she pledges continued support for Homeless Helpline

Ellie Goulding today told how she had found homelessness “hard to see” from a young age – as she offered the chance to meet her as a prize in the final auction for our charity appeal.

The singer offered the meet and greet and two tickets to watch an upcoming live show as the headline lot in the online fundraising auction which launches today.

It comes as she announced she had become an ambassador for Centrepoint, who we are supporting through our Young and Homeless Helpline appeal.

We are helping the charity launch the first national helpline for youngsters aged 16 to 25 who are homeless or at risk of life on the streets – as well as funding the vital services the charity runs they could be referred to.

Currently at least 30,000 young people are turned away by local authorities each year with little or no advice.

Goulding, who has previously backed our appeal and has visited homeless shelters in the past two months to highlight the issues, said: “Homelessness has always been something I’ve found hard to see and hard to take in and hard to understand since I was very young.

“I am so happy to join Centrepoint as one of their new ambassadors to help support such a serious issue in the UK - youth homelessness.

“This final auction will help push these funds, so please check it out and bid on a money can’t buy prize to help change lives.”

Among the other lots to feature in the online auction are luxury holidays including a family stay in Zimbabwe, the chance to train with double silver medal-winning Olympian Jazz Carlin, signed Spurs, West Ham and Crystal Palace football shirts, and lunch with Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of Standard readers, more than £2million has already been raised for the appeal.