Hundreds to sleep out ‘so young people don’t have to…’

Hundreds of fundraisers from across the city are to spend the night sleeping rough in a bid to raise awareness and much-needed cash for a local charity that works with and helps shelter young vulnerable people across the region.

On the first Friday in December every year St Basils hosts one of the UK’s largest and oldest SleepOut events. The charity fundraiser sees hundreds of people volunteering to sleep through the night in a cardboard box, in a car park, in winter. Last year, the evening raised more than £35,000 in sponsorship to help St Basils continue its vital work preventing youth homelessness and helping those at risk in Birmingham and North Worcestershire.

Over 460 people have signed up to this year’s main event to be held on tomorrow in Digbeth, Birmingham.  There will also be 5 ‘Satellite’ SleepOuts taking place on the same night across Birmingham. 3 of these are at local educational institutions; Students at Birmingham University, South Birmingham College and Birmingham Metropolitan College have all organised their own versions.

The main SleepOut in Digbeth has been generously supported by local businesses and the Corporate community in recent years with Jaffabox and Harvey Nichols remaining the two main sponsors of this event.

Jaffa box have supported the St Basils Big SleepOut since 2005 and have donated in total over 30 tonnes of cardboard in that time enabling the volunteers to build their own creative dwellings for the night. Harvey Nichols have been keen supporters of the Big SleepOut since 2007 and have provided the Big SleepOut canteen with thousands of hot bacon sandwiches and hot drinks which help the

participants get through their challenge.

This year Kevin Breese, General Manager of Harvey Nichols will be taking part in the SleepOut itself and on 4th

November visited the Jaffabox factory to select his box for the evening.

Kevin Breese said: “The Big SleepOut has become a very important date on the city’s fundraising calendar, and I have been delighted to see how many businesses are now backing such a worthy event.”

“It would be fantastic to see even more teams join in this year. Yes, it’s cold and uncomfortable, but it really is a fun way to help raise awareness of homelessness in our city – and if I can do it, anyone can!”

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Mark Amyes of Jaffabox added: “The work of St Basils is vital to this region and Jaffabox is only too happy to help with this challenging event. This is for a local charity doing great work which actually benefits all of us.”

Registration has now closed for this event but you can still help prevent youth homelessness in Birmingham by texting a donation. Please text  ZZZZ11 £5 to 70070.

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