Homelessness charities St Basils, YMCA Heart of England and Cyrenians have come together as part of the City of Culture ‘HOME’ festival to host the Coventry sleepout taking place Saturday October 9th going into Sunday morning October 10th which is world homeless day.

Steve Rainbow, St Basils events manager said: “St Basils, YMCA Heart of England and Cyrenians are working tirelessly in Coventry to prevent homelessness and support people who are experiencing hardship.

To help us to do even more, we are holding a fundraising sleep-out event in the ruins of old Coventry Cathedral. The event challenges people to sleep out for a night and help raise money so that more young people don’t have to experience the plight of sleeping rough for real.”

Fundraising and donations coordinator at YMCA Heart of England, David Wootten, added, “All the money raised by this unique event will go towards supporting young vulnerable people in Coventry who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.

“Research conducted by YMCA found that just one in four young people who are homeless (26%) believe the public care about youth homelessness. We hope that this event will show that there are many people who care, and that by coming together to raise vital funds we can support even more young people to build a better life.”

Caron Williams, CEO of Coventry Cyrenians added, “Anyone is welcome to attend and we are urging individuals, groups of friends or companies to sign-up to take part. Lots of businesses are getting involved and we’d urge as many as possible to come on board and support your local homelessness charities to help prevent youth homelessness in Coventry.”

Kirk Whitehouse of Musicians Against Homelessness said: “We are proud to support Coventry Sleepout this year.

“As a not for profit organisation, whose aim is to assist in ending Homelessness in the UK, we jumped at the chance to get involved with this event to benefit three charities who align with our work. On the night, we are bringing 6 amazing, local acts to the event, to keep participants entertained in the beautiful setting of Coventry Cathedral.”
 
Inderjit Singh of Langar Aid said: “Our mission is to serve the homeless, vulnerable and those struggling with poverty and are delighted to be supporting Coventry Sleepout which has been organised to bring attention to these issues in Coventry. We will be serving warm food to all participants at the event to keep them warm and nourished, ready for the challenges of the night spent sleeping rough ahead of them.”
 
At the event, supporting the event are two local organisations, Musicians Against Homelessness, and Langar Aid, participants will be given cardboard to use to make their bed for the night, but are encouraged to bring sleeping bags and layers of clothes to stay warm. Toilet facilities are available on site and security will be in place.