Sponsored sleep-out raises more than £20,000 for Northampton shelter
A Sleep Out fundraiser at St Giles churchyard organised by the Hope Centre. Zyna Doran and Tommie Casey settling down for the night.
A SPONSORED sleep-out in temperatures as low as -9C has raised more than £20,000 for a Northampton homeless shelter.
More than 50 people braved the bad weather to take part in the annual event, which was held in the churchyard of St Giles’ Church, in the town centre, from 6pm on Friday until 6am on Saturday.
Debbie Galton, from The Hope Centre, in Ash Street, said only four people had to leave early due to the extremely low temperatures.
She said: “It’s more people than we’ve ever had go home, before but everyone else saw it through.
“Due to the low temperatures though we took the extra precaution of checking on people through the night and making sure they had worn lots of extra clothes and had lots of bedding.”
Two of the people taking part in the sleep-out, Debbie Kay and Karen Wilson, joined in because they work at Wellingborough Prison where they help people who have been homeless and have drug problems.
Mrs Kay said: “We see people in prison who are homeless all the time and they think we’re mad doing this in such cold temperatures.
“But we want to experience what they experience so we know what its like. We have received £50 of sponsorship from the prisoners.”
Another woman who took part was Lindsay Green, who helps people in Northamptonshire with mental health problems.
She said: “I think this is a good way of doing something and raising money for the homeless shelter and raising awareness of the charity.”
The money raised from the event will be used to fund the Hope Centre’s work with local homeless people, and the work of CAN, the Northampton-based charity which helps people with drug and alcohol problems.
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Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
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forgetnot
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 06:37 PMWhat a terrible state of affairs homelessness is, those who do their utmost for them are to be commended, in the Ukraine 131 homeless people have died, our so called government will be flying civil servants over to see how they do it.
Love Child
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 09:52 AMCome down the Malt Shovel on a Wednesday to meet the lovely Debs!!
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