Blueclaw sleeping rough with Simon on The Streets

On the 26th of September 2013, 5 members of the Blueclaw team participated in the Simon on the Streets sleep out event at Leeds Minister. The team that participated was; Chris Taylor, Evi Sianna, Franzi Hoffmann, Pedro Ferreira and Reza Moaiandin.

Since Simon on the Streets began, Blueclaw has helped raise thousands of pounds in the last 3 years, this money has helped provide homeless people with support, food, shelter, equipment and much needed morale.

In 2013, Blueclaw has managed to raise in the region of £300, whilst also raising awareness via radio interviews, such as the one on BBC Radio Leeds and Radio Pulse (27th September 2013). On the 18th of September 2013, Sophie and Franzi kindly produced delicious cupcakes to further raise money offline.

To follow how the evening progressed, follow the hashtag #Sleepingwithsimon.

As an insight into the evening, the team has compiled a video diary of how they emotionally felt before the event, which can be seen in the video below.

Team interview from Simon on the Streets 2013

In total, the evening raised in the region of £13,000, with Global Lingo raising the most money. Richard Michie, from Global Lingo said:

“All the team at Global Lingo where really excited about the Simon on the Streets sleep out and we raised over £2,000 as a team. What really brought it all together for me was the stories Jamie, one of the workers, told us about his time on the sleeping on the streets and how the work Simon on the Streets did helped in. He was very inspiring and gave me lots of hope that the work they do is all very worthwhile.”

Whilst Helen Beachell from Simon on the Streets said:
“Last night Simon On The Street’s held their 4th, and most successful sponsored sleep out. 120 of West Yorkshire’s business community joined together to raise £13,500 for the charity, with an expected final total of around £15,000. This money will be spent directly on our charitable activity; paying for our support workers to deliver vital front line support to some of the region’s most vulnerable and marginalised people.

Feedback from participants shows that the expectation of the event is initially that the hardship will be physical; sleeping on a cold damp floor, inclement weather, city noise – but after the walks with our ex rough sleepers who share their experiences, people realise that the hardest part of rough sleeping is emotional and psychological; dealing with the fear of what might happen each night and the emotions of a traumatic past is far more challenging and lonely.

The evening was an great success on two levels, both fundraising and awareness raising. We raised more than ever before from this event and the awareness raising continues to spread as participants re-tell the stories they have heard. I am proud to have been part of it and uplifted that Simon On The Streets has such strong support across West Yorkshire.”

On the 27th of September, members of the SOTS team participated in radio interviews on Radio Pulse and also on BBC Radio Leeds. Underneath you can hear what the team had to say:

*Updated 09:06 27th September 2013

*Supporting images & video content taken by CST Photography