Posted on Tuesday 14th November, 2017
Around
100 people braved a long, chilly night in the open air at the Eden Project last
Thursday night (9th November) to help raise vital funds for homeless people.
They
grabbed as much rest as they could lying on hard ground in sleeping bags under
an awning in front of the Eden Biomes.
Sleep
Out is a nationwide event organised by the End Youth Homelessness campaign
(EYH), a national partnership of grassroots charities and companies.
The
aim of the fourth annual Sleep Out at Eden is to raise funds and generate
awareness for two South West charities, St Petroc’s Society which helps single
homeless people in Cornwall, and the Amber Foundation which has three centres
helping young people across the South and South West of England.
The
charities say that the numbers of people who find themselves homeless increases
every year.
Representatives
of the two charities and some of the people they help joined fund-raising
volunteers in the mass gathering at Eden.
Both
charities say that funds raised through Sleep Out lead to a direct benefit to
homeless people.
Judith
Dumbrell, Director of Finance at St Petroc’s, said: “Money raised will go
towards our cold weather provision, which means that we can open the doors of
our resource centre in Truro for homeless people to sleep at night from
mid-December for two months, the coldest and hardest months of the year.
“Last
year we had 59 people access the service in that time and we went on to
accommodate 42 of them in suitable accommodation so you can see that just this
one event makes a real tangible difference.
“Sadly
the numbers of people who find themselves homeless increase every year and the
latest figures show that Cornwall has the third highest number of rough
sleepers in the UK.
Judith
added: “I’d like to thank the Eden Project and everyone who took part on behalf
of the people who are going to use the service this winter. The fact that
you’ve got 100 people here who are really keen to do something and find out
what is going on – that is so important too.”
Claire
Miller, community fundraiser of the Amber Foundation, said: “The funding from
this is so appreciated by Amber. It will make a very big difference. But just
as importantly, raising awareness about this issue is vital.
“Homelessness
is a growing problem in today’s society. It’s not going away and we need to
take positive action to help end homelessness. Thank you to Eden for organising
such an amazing event.”
A
really important thing for the Foundation, said Claire, is that the money
raised through Sleep Out represents unrestricted funding which pays for core
costs, helping to fund its centres and staff. The foundation has three centres
across the country, supporting around 150 people aged between 17 and 30.
Before
bedding down on hard ground the Sleep Out participants enjoyed a lively evening
of entertainment from the Suzie Mac Trio and duo Dew Barf. The volunteers also
took part in a masterclass in bread-making led by the Eden chefs and listened
to a bed-time story around the fire-pit.
Jess
Rawlings, Project Manager of Sleep Out at Eden, said: “It’s great to know that
this event will be making a difference and that the many thousands of pounds
raised by the people who have slept out all night is already helping homeless
people.
“Sleep
Out has established itself as an important date in the Eden calendar and we are
already thinking about next year’s event.”
Many
volunteer fund-raisers who took part reflected on the harshness of just one
night in the cold, damp air.
Andrew
Drayton, from Crediton, Devon, said: “Even though we’ve been well looked after,
have easy access to clean toilets and hot drinks, our stuff is safe and we are
safe, this sucks. Cold, tired, miserable and extremely uncomfortable but
that’s the point. 300,000 people will have no choice but to do this again
tomorrow.”
