Thousands of pounds have been raised for young people facing homelessness after a community Sleep Out took place on Southbourne Promenade.
The Host Your Own Sleep Out event, held at SOBO Beach, invited participants to give up their beds for one night in support of Centrepoint, the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity.
Now in its third year, the event raised £5,000, bringing organiser Mark Kedgley’s total fundraising to more than £15,000 since the first Southbourne Beach Sleep Out began.
Mark said the idea came after seeing the scale of rough sleeping when he moved to the South Coast. “I wanted to do something to help and had heard about Sleep Outs as a way to fundraise and raise awareness,” he said. “I’m so grateful to the community and SOBO Beach whose support makes a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable young people.”
Centrepoint estimates that more than 118,000 young people faced homelessness or were at risk last year, including over 13,000 in the South West.
Miranda Harman, from Centrepoint, said Mark had shown great determination to grow the event and raise awareness.
The Southbourne Sleep Out forms part of Centrepoint’s nationwide Host Your Own Sleep Out campaign, encouraging people and groups to take local action to help end youth homelessness.
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