London sleep out helps raise £1m
in aid of youth homelessness
Over 1,000 IT and business professionals slept rough at sites across the UK at Action for Children’s annual Byte Night event - raising over £1m to
fight youth homelessness.
In London, just under 400 sleepers took part, bedding down at Potters Field, Tower Bridge and contributing a massive £485,000 so far to the growing
£1m total.
The London event was one of seven sponsored sleep-outs held to raise awareness of the plight of the 100,000 homeless young people in
the UK. The money raised will fund services that provide emergency accommodation and emotional and practical support for homeless young people.
Founder of the event, Ken Deeks, from The Amber Group, said “It was enormously inspiring to see so many people sleep out on a cold October night
in support of homeless young people in the area. When I started this event 16 years ago I could never have imagined that it would grow to such a
significant fundraiser across the UK.
“We are really proud to have raised a landmark £1m and plans are already underway to make next year’s event even bigger and better – I urge
businesses from across London to sign up and join us next October. Not only is it a great team building and networking opportunity, but you are also
helping us in the fight against the sad truths of youth homelessness.”
The sleep-out in London raised funds for several local Action for Children services - including Tower Hamlet’s Children’s Rights Service, which works
with young people living in care or in vulnerable family situations. Action for Children staff listen to these young people, with the aim of tackling
problems before they escalate to crises and preventing them from becoming another homelessness statistic.
Byte Night is the technology and wider business community’s annual sleep out in support of Action for Children. Each year, colleagues from
hundreds of companies spend a night exposed to the elements in a bid to raise sponsorship and awareness of the charity’s work
to combat youth homelessness and associated issues.
rding homelessness?
Do you need help and support rega
[email protected]
Call 0300 123 2112 or email ask
To donate, just text the wo
rd ‘BYTE13£5’ to 7007
(T&C apply - check web
site)
For more information on Action for
Childre
www.actionforchildren.org.uk n visit
Want to register for 2014’s Byte Night?
Visit www.bytenight.org.uk
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Derek Tuitt of Hewlett Packard took
part in the London Byte Night on
4th October. Here, he recalls how
his experience made him more aware
of the plight faced by many every day.
“I became aware of Action for Children for the first time this
year. I took the opportunity to better understand the challenges
and the need to address the homeless situation that many
young people experience by sleeping rough during Byte
Night 2013.
Empathy gives a limited view of both the challenges and
difficulties that many people sleeping rough face and I found
myself becoming consciously aware of the numerous things
I have taken for granted in the comfort of my home such as a
warm dry bed; during Byte Night I had to find a space for my
sleeping bag on the cold hard ground. When sleep finally came
it was then broken by the harsh wind and rain at 3am which tore
through me as my only protection was the thin, now very wet
sleeping bag. At that point, I started counting down the
minutes until I could get up, head home to grab a shower
and sleep in my own bed.
The most significant thing from my experience was the
following Friday when it was raining heavily all day, I thought
of all those individuals who faced another night of sleeping
rough not by choice but circumstances of their lives.
Byte Night has raised over a million pounds but we in the UK
need to do more to make homelessness a thing of the past.”
YouthPhoriaUK
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