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Sleeping rough for charities
Sleeping rough for Bristol homeless charities
From the Bristol Evening Post, Sunday, March 01, 2009, 19:29.
More than 60 people spent a damp night sleeping rough in Bristol to raise money for local charities supporting the homeless.
Volunteers aged between 14 and 81, did their best to get a few hours sleep on Friday night in the grounds of Pip 'n' Jay Church on Tower Hill, despite low temperatures and drizzly rain.
More than £5,000 has already been counted, and organisers think the figure could rise to nearly £10,000.
Alan Goddard, 54, who got about three hours sleep in his sleeping bag and laying on a sheet of cardboard, said it was a tough night.
"I wouldn't wish to go through that again," said Alan from Clevedon. "It was dreadful."
Alan, who works for Crisis Centre Ministries and Alabaré Christian Care Centres in Bristol, used to live on the streets in Cardiff after his relationship with his family broke down when he became addicted to alcohol.
He said: "It brought back a lot of horrible memories. At least this time, when I got up in the morning I knew I was going home to get clean and warm.
"But when you're homeless, you wake up and realise you have to walk around outside all day, find some food, and then do the same thing the next night. I think it was good for people to realise what the conditions can be like for people living on the streets."
He estimated that there are more than 50 people sleeping rough in Bristol every night.
Housemates Lucy Nagel, 22, Laura McManamon, 24, and Nikki Hodge, 25, who live in Easton, took part to raise money for Crisis Centre Ministries.
Lucy, a teacher at Mangotsfield School, helps in the charity's cafe and raised about £150 for the cause.
She said: "It wasn't too bad - but the ground was quite hard so I woke up about every 20 minutes."
Laura, who teaches at the City Academy, said: "It really made you think. At least we were safe and secure, but homeless people are not when they sleep rough."
Each person at the event was raising money for one of 12 Bristol organisations.
The sleep-out was organised by BCAN (the Bristol Christian Action Network), which ran a smaller version last year.
Alan said: "Despite it being uncomfortable and damp, spirits were quite high in general on the night of the sleep-out because we knew we were raising thousands of pounds for people who needed it, and it was also a bit of an adventure for some people."
Paul Hazelden, 51, from Sea Mills, who runs the BCAN's homeless forum and helped organise the event, said: "It went really well, we were really pleased with the turn-out. Everyone was quite cheerful and lots of people said it was a really good opportunity."