Councillors sleepless in West Bromwich!
Friday 28th February saw Tom Watson MP, Councillor Simon Hackett and CEO of Sandwell Counil, Jan Britton along with 40 YMCA staff and volunteers, sleep rough to raise awareness for youth homelessness and vital funds for the work of West Bromwich and District YMCA.
Sleep Easy is a national YMCA campaign that attempts to raise awareness of youth homelessness across the UK. The basic concept is to spend one night sleeping in a cardboard box, like many young people are forced to do every night.
Everybody was given 2 cardboard boxes, donated by CBS Packaging and Storage King to construct their home for the night, the participants were also allowed make their box more homey with decorations provided by Hobbycraft.
After they had all settled in and sorted their sleeping arrangements, the participants who included Tom Watson MP, Jan Britton CEO of Sandwell Council and Councillor Simon Hackett, enjoyed some BBQ food which was made possible by Hadley Industries.
This was followed by a sing-along around the campfire - where a lot of people remained during the night. Rob Oliver, a resident from the YMCA talked to some of the participants about his experience of homelessness and how the YMCA helped him to get back on his feet and start building a future for himself.
Many retired to their cardboard beds at around 1am, by which time the temperature was around -3˚C. Throughout the night, participants visited Diary Cam to talk about why they were doing the event and how they were finding it.
Tom Watson MP said “This is a personal experience for me and a lesson for all of us that it’s incumbent for us to look after people in more vulnerable positions than we are. We should all thank our lucky stars that we live in nice homes with central heating!”
After a long, cold night people started to emerge around 6am cold and tired, but all agreed that it had been a worthwhile experience and a real eye opener. The event raised around £3500, which will go towards a new initiative by YMCA residents to help the homeless in Sandwell.
Head over to the West Bromwich YMCA Facebook page to see more photos of Sleep Easy 2011!
Thank you to everyone that took part and also to the local companies who sponsored the event:
Hadley Industries, Hobbycraft, CBS Packaging, Travis Perkins, Staples
