Fundraisers from as young as secondary school to Chelsea Pensioners slept rough to raise money for homeless charity
Image by Glass Door.
On Friday 9 October, local residents gathered in Duke of York Square to support homeless charity Glass Door in its annual Sleep Out event.
10 October was World Homeless Day, making it that night perfect setting for this fundraiser where participants sleep on the street for a night to get an understanding of what rough sleeping is like for unhoused people. This is Glass Door’s 14th annual Sleep Out, and the organisers set their sights on raising £100,000.
“It’s a good place to do it, here,” explained Glass Door CEO Jo Carter. The Cadogan family allow the group to use a semi-enclosed space to set up their stall and sleeping spaces. “It’s enclosed, and we have our own space, but this road never stops, there’s noise all through the night.”
Participants included students from local schools, Chelsea Pensioners, and others who had travelled from as far as Kent. They took part in a quiz on homelessness and shared hot drinks and snacks before settling down on beds of cardboard and sleeping bags to experience a night in the autumn chill.
One participant said: “It was a humbling experience. One night outdoors is nothing compared with the reality faced by people who have no safe place to call home, night after night.”
Carter told the Chelsea Citizen: “One of the young people who took part raised over £4,000. We’ve got people who came with friends, colleagues whose donations are being matched by their companies. It’s amazing what people have done. We reach out to them afterwards, and they’re always really proud of what they’ve raised and interested to know what we’re doing with that money.”
Glass Door has a street team who work directly with people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness on a daily basis, both through their shelters over the winter and a casework team that work year-round.
“Our goal is helping people get off the streets for good,” Carter said. “To not have a home is to be without safety, without a sense of belonging. I just think about how lucky I am to have my home, my things, my sense of comfort. Our Sleep Out isn’t suggesting that one night on the street compares to being homeless. They just want to stand by the side of the people experiencing homelessness and do something about it.”
Image by Glass Door.
