Sheffield youth homeless charity Roundabout is seeking participants for its eighth annual Sleep Out event on Friday 8th November at 92 Burton Rd in Kelham Island.
The event, sponsored by Henry Boot and Sharp Consultancy, aims to raise funds to prevent homelessness becoming a reality for vulnerable young people in Sheffield, by encouraging supporters to gain sponsorship for experiencing what a night sleeping rough could be like.
While a tough, cold night on a hard warehouse floor may lie in store for tenacious participants, there is also some great team entertainment and refreshments in store to help prepare for the challenge.
Proceedings will kick off at 8pm with speeches from Roundabout representatives before Sheffield-based Unbeatable Energy, run by Steve Rivers, will get rough sleepers warmed up with an energetic boomwhacker workshop.
The session will see participants furnished with tuned percussion tubes to create amazing patterns that fuse harmony with rhythm and build team spirit, to help with preparations to try and get some sleep from midnight.
ChianYing Xuan, a student at the University of Sheffield, participated in Sleep Out in 2018. She said: “Taking part in the challenge helped me to gain some much-needed perspective. It’s all too easy to lament a leaky tap or a faulty light until you face a night without a warm bed.
“Truly effecting change takes collective effort and persistence, so taking small steps, such as fundraising through Sleep Out, can go a long way in helping us realise these changes.”
Ben Keegan, Roundabout’s CEO, said: “When the colder months arrive, being left with nowhere to go is a terrible prospect for anyone, but particularly for those who are young and vulnerable. While Sleep Out can’t truly replicate what it’s like to be lonely, frightened and homeless it can help make a real difference.
“We would love as many people as possible to come and take part. The money raised through sponsorship will help us continue with our homeless prevention work, drop-in advice services and our ground-breaking Peer Education programme in schools. Ultimately, we want to help young people avoid ever having to experience homelessness.”
