Sleep Out 2007

SNUGGLED UP IN BED… WHERE. OUT OR IN?

Sleep Out or IN and raise funds while you sleep.

A Thousand Sleepers will be Sleeping Out or IN and raising money for a thousand young people housed at St Basils.

While most of us will be tucked up in our warm beds on Friday November 30, the leading youth homelessness charity, St Basils, is asking a thousand Midlanders to think about the thousand young people who didn’t have to sleep rough this year.

The Big Sleep Out, takes place from 6pm on Friday November 30 overnight to 7am on the Saturday morning Dec 1^st, in Digbeth. St Basils, celebrating 35 years this year, is urging people to think about others as we move into the festive period. We have provided accommodation to over 1,000 young people this year from all over the Midlands.

Those taking part in the Sleep Out and Sleep In this year include: celebrity Gail Porter; Central TV newsreader, Llewella Bailey; Rt. Revd. David Urquhart Bishop of Birmingham; Charles Barwell and a team from Barclays Wealth; Nick Venning partner PricewaterhouseCoopers. Great Barr School are attending as they do every year and so is St Martins Girls who missed last year, having done around three or four sleep outs. Councillor Karen Hamilton repeats her attendance to raise awareness of the great work that St Basils does. There are around 8 satellite sleep outs across the city numbering around 200 people.

Out or In, depending on the weather, we have Anthony Collins on the company roof or in their canteen in the city centre. The Fort, Urban Splash with hundreds attending a Pyjama party at company premises at Castle Bromwich. St Basils, mother and baby home, Staff are doing it in the Conservatory in their garden. Other Members of St Basils staff will be attending the Big Sleep Out in Digbeth from our Resettlement Centre and The Link.

Sleeping In, Aston Villa footballer Craig Gardner,

l-r Mark Amyes Jaffabox, Craig Gardner AVFC, Lewella Bailey, Central News.

Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor Paul Tilsley, and over 120 who have pledged to Sleep In via our website.

Over 600 people have so far signed up to take part in the Digbeth-based Sleep Out while an additional 500 have register for the satellite events at Fort Dunlop and other areas across Birmingham and the West Midlands. We should see around 1,000 people taking part in this one night event.

Steve Rainbow, St Basils Fundraising Officer responsible for the Sleep Out, said: “As the festive party season begins, we will all do it – spend a little too much on food and wine then go home to our warm homes and snuggle up in bed. All we are asking people to do is think about those who don’t have that option.

“One in 20 young people in the Midlands are at risk of becoming homeless. By taking part in the Sleep Out or doing your own Sleep In and helping to raise much needed funds, we can help to change that figure and give young people the start in life they deserve.”

For over 35 years we have been working with young people between the ages of 16 to 25, housing over 350 young people a night in 23 projects in Birmingham, Solihull and Redditch. This year we will have housed over 1,000 young people, preventing them from ever experiencing homelessness, and provided advice a support to around 4,000.

St Basils is urging anyone who would like to help raise money and be a part of what is recognised as the largest gathering of its kind in the world, to register fast as places are filling up.

For more information about how you can get involved with Sleep Out or In call Steve Rainbow 0121-772-2483. To donate, please visit www.stbasils.org.uk or call us and donate by credit card on 0121 772 9614, you can also donate via St Basils, the safe and secure website www.bmycharity.com/stbasils .

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