Friday 26 April kicks off the first night of Streetlife’s Annual #BigSleepout19 outside St John’s Church, St John’s Square in Blackpool town centre.
This year is set to be Streetlife’s biggest sleepout to date. 2019 marks the 5th year of the annual sleepout in Blackpool town centre. The organisers of #BigSleepout19 are holding the event over two consecutive nights with participants being able to choose between Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April 2019.
Last year’s Big Sleepout saw over over 250 participants from across Lancashire take part in this amazing cause. Due to the enormous generosity of the local people, Streetlife raised £41,000 from last year’s Big Sleepout, that’s £13k more than 2017’s event.
Streetlife is a youth work charity whose aim is to assist vulnerable young people in the Blackpool area, Established in 1982, Streetlife is an organisation, which assists vulnerable young people in Blackpool, a lot of who access our service as homeless.
The monies raised will be used to provide emergency safe accommodation to homeless young people in their Night Shelter at St. Johns Walk in Blackpool town centre.
Jane Hugo, CEO of Streetlife, said: “We are really pleased to announce that we are holding two consecutive Sleepout events this year due to the massive success of the event in 2018. Beaverbrooks are the headline sponsors for this year’s Sleepout and we are absolutely thrilled that they have chosen to support Streetlife in this way.
“We are expecting to register 300 people who are prepared to give up a night of comfort in their own homes for a night on the cobbles of St John’s Sq. because they want to make a difference to the lives of homerless young people.
“Streetlife lost over £100,000 of local authority annual funding in 2014, due to austerity and we pledged to do all we can to keep the Streetlife shelter open as long as young people need us. The funds raised at the sleepout are vital and will go a long way to keeping the doors open for another year.
“Not only does the sleepout raise important funds it also raises awareness about youth homelessness and gives the participants the opportunity to experience a night out on the streets. Sleepout volunteers can access hot drinks and use toilet facilities throughout the night and go home to a hot shower and warm bed never the less it gives them a flavour of how difficult it is to sleep on the streets.
Participants sleep out to raise funds so that young people don’t have to.”
Susie Nicholas of headline sponsor Beaverbrooks, said: “Beaverbrooks are extremely proud to be the headline sponsor of the Big Sleepout 2019.
“We’re supporting Streetlife with this event as it raises much-needed funds for this amazing charity that help homeless young people in Blackpool. We know that they not only give the young people a place to stay, they also support them through their issues to help get them back on their feet.
“We started supporting Streetlife several years ago and have colleagues volunteering overnight at the Shelter, preparing home cooked meals for the young people and one of our colleagues is now a Trustee there. We also do lots of fundraising for the charity each year with activities like bake sales and we’ve had a team of colleagues join in the previous Sleepouts events.
“We’re excited that 2019 is going to be the biggest Sleepout to date over two nights and are sure we’ll have a big turn out from the Beaverbrooks team. Last year’s event raised a record £41,000 to continue their work at the night Shelter and we’re really hoping local people will get behind the event again this year so we can smash that fundraising figure.”
