A long and cold night at the Birmingham Big Sleep Out

Fine & Country offices from across the West Midlands took part in the Birmingham Sleep Out for St Basils youth homeless charity on Friday 24th November. It was a cold, damp and uncomfortable night for all involved, but they all still had a fantastic time. It was all worth it because the Fine & Country team have raised an amazing £1,639.

We are delighted to announce that 697 people finished work on Friday and made their way to Birmingham Cathedral where they met buzzing volunteers and St Basils representatives for an evening of entertainment and fundraising. Fine & Country agents travelled from our Mailbox, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Banbury offices to attend the ‘Big Sleep Out’.

During the evening, the fundraisers distracted themselves from the bitter temperatures by taking part in the shelter-building competition. Some of the teams pulled out all the stops, and the Fine & Country team was no exception.

Dionne Evans from Fine & Country Mailbox said: “We were so proud of our shelter; it was a circular shape with a plastic sheet as a roof. It reminded me of a tepee and people even came along to have a look inside. Some of the teams were really creative which helped to keep spirits high.”

After the shelter-building competition, talks were held in Birmingham Cathedral. Representatives from St Basils gave a speech, along with Andy Street, the Mayor of Birmingham and David Urquhart, the Bishop of Birmingham.

Around 1am, everything began to quieten down and temperatures dropped to two degrees Celsius. Most of the Fine & Country team were too cold to get any sleep during the night, but thankfully it wasn’t a windy night, so the shelters remained intact.

Dionne continued: “I wasn’t sure that I would last the night because it was so cold, but I’m so glad that I made it until morning. By 4.30am, we were all waking up and Greggs served us breakfast but we were so cold and tired that we couldn’t eat.”

The event, like all Sleep Outs, is designed to raise awareness of homelessness and not to mimic it.

All donations from the event will go to St Basils youth homeless charity. St Basils is one of the nine members of the End Youth Homelessness campaign, which is a charity partner of The Fine & Country Foundation. To help you understand how your donations are helping, we have a breakdown below:

£4 = a travel card for the day for a young person to attend training and interviews

£15 = buys an emergency food pack for a young person in emergency accommodation

£25 = buys single bedding for a young person to move into their own accommodation

£50 = a study kit of clothing and equipment for training or college courses

£150 = provides essential items for a young person living independently, e.g. kettle and cutlery

£250 = buy a new bed in the supported accommodation scheme

£500 = literacy and numeracy training for up to eight young people

The Fine & Country Foundation takes part in Sleep Outs across the country throughout November. For more information about our 2018 Sleep Outs or other fundraising events throughout the year, please contact foundation@fineandcountry.com or call us on +44(0)20 3368 8221. 

    

More from Fine & Country