Taking Part In A Charity Sleep Out
5th April 2019 - New Experience Number 10
There are lots of ways to support good causes, and taking part in a charity sleep out not only helps to raise money for homeless organisations, it also raises awareness of what those charities do and the people they help.
In a sanitised version of what is reality for hundreds of people, a charity sleep out is an experience that gives just a fraction of insight into what it must be like sleeping on the streets.
I decided to give it a go to help to make a difference, and to experience something I’d never done before as one of my 52 new things.
What Is A Charity Sleep Out?
A charity sleep out is a fundraising activity, usually supporting homeless organisations. It sees participants spending a night sleeping outside in a temporary shelter they have constructed themselves, and takes place in a safe, secure and enclosed environment
Participants pay a registration fee and raise sponsorship for taking on the challenge of spending a night outside.
It may sound easy, and it’s certainly not an exact replication of rough sleeping, but it’s also not without its challenges.
Is Taking Part In A Charity Sleep Out Like Camping?
I love camping, and you can read about my first solo camping trip, but that’s when I’ve got all the kit I might need. I can pitch my tent in a safe environment and it usually has an end point when I know my next sleep will be in a proper bed.
A charity sleep out doesn’t have the luxury of canvas. You can take your sleeping bag, and any bits of cardboard or plastic; the idea is that you create your own overnight shelter.
It generally takes place in safe and secure environments such as sports stadiums or school grounds. Whilst it doesn’t replicate rough sleeping, it does give participants a small insight into what it’s like for people who don’t have somewhere safe to stay at night.
Taking Part In A Charity Sleep Out In Spring
I signed up to an event in April. Taking place in the grounds of a school, we could use the toilet facilities and had access to refreshments. We knew we would be alright in our makeshift homes for the night. This was a safe way to experience just a little taste of what it is like to spend a night on the streets.
The Other Half dropped me off with some large cardboard boxes I’d saved, a bivvy bag that SASH had suggested to take along, and my sleeping bag.
After signing in at registration I tried to find a suitable spot to build my shelter. I opted for a section of path alongside a building and next to some steps hoping it might give me some protection from any wind.
Building A Shelter
I lay the cardboard out on my pitch and looked at it for a long time completely perplexed. How on earth should I arrange it? I didn’t quite know where to begin or how to assemble it to create a secure structure.
Actually getting started and committing to some sort of design took a few stalled attempts. A pyramid might have been a good shape, but I couldn’t get it to stay up. A sloping roof seemed a good idea, but I had no way of securely fixing it.
In the end, my cardboard architecture was very unimaginative, and was basically a long and narrow box. Yes, you’re right, it probably did look a bit too much like a coffin shape but I didn’t dwell on that aspect!
Entering my accommodation was not the most dignified of processes. Only one end opened, and it was narrow. Like, really narrow. I pretty much had to lie flat on the ground outside the cardboard doorway, and shimmy like an overstuffed snake to make my way into my shelter until I was completely enclosed. Turning onto my back involved a lot of shuffling. There was no room to sit up and barely enough space to bend my knees. It’s a good job I’m not claustrophobic!
Remembering Why I Was Taking Part In A Charity Sleep Out
Once people had mostly set up their pitches, we congregated in the school hall for a reminder of the cause and an update on fundraising.
This sleep out was in aid of SASH, a charity aimed at preventing youth homlessness.
They do fantastic work to give desperate young people safe havens, such as running Nightstop – an emergency accommodation service for young people who have nowhere safe to stay on a night.
SASH also help young people who can’t return home and don’t know how to live on their own. They assist them in finding supported lodgings where they get intensive help from their support worker and their host, and are provided with help for finding future prospects.
By taking part in the sleepout, we all pledged to raise a minimum of £100 in sponsorship. Collectively we’d raised over £24,000 so far which would go a long way to helping the charity to make a difference.
Camp Envy
Before bedding down, I wandered around the grounds to see how other people had constructed their shelters. I was curious to see home mine compared.
Some people had made triangular tent like shapes, with what looked like a pre-prepared cardboard cut out design. Tarpaulin covered other constructions for a camouflage effect. Fairy lights twinkled around the doorways of a group who had pitched up together. One brave individual had completely done away with the idea of a shelter and had opted to sleep just in their bivvy bag.
Whilst I didn’t have high hopes that my shelter would survive any adverse weather, it looked as sturdy as other structures, and was my personal sanctuary for a night in our cardboard village.
Turning In For The Night
Saying goodnight to my neighbour, I took off my trainers, inelegantly slithered into my box, and shuffled down into my sleeping bag, using my rucksack as a pillow.
I could hear people still milling around nearby, but it didn’t take me long to drift off.
It didn’t take long for me to wake up again, as every time I turned over I momentarily became aware of my very tight and flimsy surroundings before managing to doze off again.
Comfort was lacking, but I suppose it was kind of cosy.
Midnight Call
Not long after midnight the call of nature prompted me to emerge from my cardboard sanctuary. Quietly creeping past the other sleeping participants I managed to keep my noise to a minimum, however there were some thunderous snores coming from other shelters.
Nipping into the secure building to use the facilities, knowing that my shelter would be fine whilst I was away, made me acutely aware of just how safe this experience was. It’s rare for public conveniences to be open over night in our city so this would be a very different experience for someone actually sleeping on the streets.
The cold started to creep in as I returned to my sleeping bag. Although my entire body was within the confines of the box, the nip of the night air was drifting around the open entrance at my feet.
Despite wearing thermals, woollen socks, and a wooly hat, and being cocooned in my sleeping bag, the chill was making it difficult to sleep. I tucked my knees up as far as I could in the box without ripping the sides apart, and tried to think of warmer things.
Early Morning - Taking Part In A Charity Sleep Out
At around 5am noises stirred me from my already disrupted slumber. People had started to get up and head for breakfast, others were going straight to work – that must have been tough.
Thinking it was too early to get up I attempted to doze some more, but it was too noisy. Even though people were trying to be quiet, every morning sound seemed to be amplified; from the vehicles trundling along the nearby road, to the birds singing, and people shuffling about, it all sounded so loud. I decided to embrace the early start and wiggled my way out of my overnight home.
Breakfast was provided for us, another luxury seldom seen by someone who has no choice but to sleep on the streets. Fuelling up on a steaming hot cup of tea and a tasty bacon roll, I watched as a mixture of bright eyed and bushy-tailed individuals, and more bleary-eyed and bewildered people, began to emerge from their shelters.
As you can probably imagine, dismantling my accommodation took a lot less time than building it! I put what I could into the recycling bin, then took a surreal walk through the centre of York as I made my way to the safety and comfort of home.
1 Star Rating
There’s no doubt that my overnight accommodation wouldn’t do very well on any review sites. My mattress consisted of the bottom of the cardboard box and the part of the sleeping bag that was under me. There are meant to be many health benefits to sleeping on a hard surface though aren’t there?
There was no way to adjust the temperature, and the soundproofing left a lot to be desired. Joking aside, experiencing just a smidgen of what some people experience night after night made me appreciate the things we take for granted.
A Sanitised Experience Of Life On The Streets
We had been extremely lucky with the weather. It had been a fairly windless night and it hadn’t rained -it would have been a very long, difficult, depressing night if it had, but that’s the reality for many people.
I can’t imagine what it must be like not to know where you are going to be sleeping at night, to not know if you’ll be able to protect yourself against the elements, to not know who’s going to be around.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to grab snatches of sleep night after night. To wake up groggy in the morning not knowing how the day will pan out, if or where you can get a wash, whether you’ll have anything to eat, or a safe space for the next night.
It had been a humbling experience, and the briefest glimpse behind the curtain of sleeping on the streets.
Interested In Taking Part In A Charity Sleep Out Yourself?
- If you want to experience a sleepout, please do it safely.
- See if there are any organised sleepouts taking place that you can participate in and you’ll be helping other people at the same time.
- I took part in the annual event organised by SASH (Safe And Sound Homes)
Cost Of Experience
The price to participate will depend how you chose to experience a sleepout, and on the organisers fees.
SASH had a registration fee of £10 with a pledge of raising a minimum of £100.
Recommendations
- Take some good tape and scissors to help you build your shelter.
- Ask people to save any large cardboard boxes for you in the weeks leading up to the event.
- Take layers to wear. The temperatures can really drop over night.
- It might be helpful to take earplugs.