The CEO Sleepout for Action for Children

It’s been pretty cold of a night-time recently but when you’re tucked up in a nice warm bed do you often give a thought to the thousands of young people with nowhere to live?

Last week I did just that when I took part in the CEO Sleepout fundraising event.

It was the second time the charity has staged the fundraiser, which sees Chief Executive Officers of some of the country’s leading companies spend a night ‘sleeping rough’ in a bid to raise money for Action For Children.

The sleepouts take place in cities around the country and I was participating in the event in central London alongside nine fellow bosses.

We managed to raise tens of thousands of pounds between us so a huge thank you to everyone who donated via my JustGiving page. It’s still open so visit https://www.justgiving.com/MSandersCEOSleepout15/2 if you’d like to add to the growing total.

Gathering sponsors and raising money for a worthy cause we managed, but actually sleeping on a pavement on a cold March night? That proved more difficult. And we had foil blankets and umbrellas to keep the elements off us, along with a sense of camaraderie and the knowledge that this discomfort had to be tolerated for only a few hours. Homeless youngsters don’t have such luxuries.

The facts surrounding the young homeless in this country bring cold comfort too.

More than 80,000 young people find themselves homeless in the UK each year. Many move from one homeless hostel or bed and breakfast establishment to the next and others have to stay with relatives or friends or be placed in the care system. A sizeable minority find themselves on the streets, facing all the horrors and dangers that presents.

In fact, young care leavers make up one in five of the homeless on our streets today.

The charity Action For Children offers individual support, training and mentoring to prepare care leavers for an independent life. I was particularly heartened to see that one anonymous donor to my JustGiving page referred to themselves as a care leaver.

Action For Children do sterling work with children and young people to try to break the cycle of deprivation that can lead to homelessness but they need money to continue this invaluable job.

I hope the money that I and my fellow CEOs raised with our charity sleepout will go some way to allowing a vital charity to help more vulnerable young homeless people.

https://www.matthewsanders.info/the-ceo-sleepout-for-action-for-children/