SKYDIVES, fun runs and cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats have been charity mainstays for years, with thousands if not millions holding events each year.

But with such fun and exhilarating experiences available to fundraisers, why do somany people sleeping rough – sometimes in temperatures as low as -4C in aid of charity?

Since Southend YMCA, which helps keep vulnerable young people off the streets, more and more youth groups, schools, churches, charities – and even casinos – “are sleeping rough to raise cash”.

Tom Moulton, organiser of Southend YMCA’s “sleep easy”, said: “I have been blown away by the support.

“We first started last year when YMCA England came to us with the idea – and since then it has just snowballed.

“We started doing it on our own, but now we have schools, churches and youth groups wanting to hold their own events.”

More than 60 volunteers, including two Echo reporters, braved sub-zero temperatures in the car park of the charity’s supported accommodation in Southchurch, in March last year, raising about £10,000.

This year, again in March, it ballooned to 100 volunteers , raising £15,000. The following month, 32 students from the charity’s free school for vulnerable teenagers, aged 14 to 19, in East Street, held their own event.

Inspired by the “sleep easies”, staff at Rendezvous Casino, in the Kursaal, raised £2,500 for charity Harp’s new 24-hour homelessness centre in York Road, Southend. Leigh Road Baptist Church, Westcliff High School for Girls, Essex Boys and Girls Club and Girl Guides from across south Essex have held sleepouts in aid of Southend YMCA this summer.

Mr Moulton described the appeal of sponsored sleepouts: “People live in homes and they are comfortable. Maybe it’s an opportunity to see how those sleeping rough live.

“It’s an opportunity for personal growth, which is a big part of it. A lot of people like the personal challenge.”

Pam Johnson, county commissioner for Essex South East Girl Guides, who helped arrange an event for Guides Billericay, Leigh, Eastwood, Rayleigh and Hadleigh, said: “We saw the YMCA sleepout in the Echo and we showed it to our senior section and they said straight away, ‘Cor, can we do it’?

“Perhaps it was because it was something they had never done before and theywanted to experience what it was like to live in a cardboard box. They realised how cold and damp it was and they learned what it was like.”

Harp has now decided to hold its own sleepout on Friday, October 10, to raise funds for its goal of ending rough sleeping in Southend by 2018.

 

MORE SLEEP OUTS PLANNED

 

MORE sponsored sleepouts are planned for the next few weeks.

Southend charity Harp hopes 100 volunteers will take part in its “cardboard box challenge”

at Southend High School for Boys, in Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff, on Friday, October 10.

The sleepout, from 8pm to 8am the following day, is billed as a challenge, but organisers hope it will be fun.

Participants are invited to use cardboard boxes and sleeping bags for shelter.

There will be a barbecue in the evening and a hot breakfast will be provided from 6am, with free tea and coffee will be available throughout the event.

The school has space for at least 200 volunteers and cover if the weather makes sleeping outdoors impossible.

The following Friday, October 17, about 100 pupils will carry out a “sleep easy” event at Shoebury High School in aid of Southend YMCA.

To register for the cardboard box challenge, which costs £10, download sponsorship forms from harpsouthend.org.uk or call 01702 415834.

To organise a “sleep easy” for Southend YMCA, call Tom Moulton on 01702 301301 or email tommoulton@southend ymca.org.uk.