YMCA Milton Keynes is calling on the MK community to come together and sleep rough for one night on Friday 8th March 2019 to support local young people, at risk of homelessness.
The youth charity, which has worked in Milton Keynes for over 30 years and has helped over 10,000 local young people, is hosting a Sleep Easy fundraiser at the intu shopping centre, West Boulevard (between Gap and Hollister).
The event will see participants sleep on the street for an evening to not only raise the much-needed funds for the new YMCA MK campus, due to open in September, but also increase awareness of the youth homelessness issue that’s right on our doorstep.
Milton Keynes was recently named the youth homeless capital of the UK, according to an article written by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. YMCA MK is doing all it can to raise awareness and tackle this issue head-on, starting with their new campus. It will provide accommodation, support and well-being services to 199 local young people.
YMCA MK has hosted Sleep Easy nights since 2016 and has raised a total of £29,000 from this event in that time. Money brought in has helped YMCA MK, which works with around 300 people each year, provide accommodation, support services and training to its residents.
It is hoped that this year’s event will help YMCA MK raise even more funds as the numbers of rough sleepers of all ages continues to rise and pressures mount on the housing market.
Simon Green YMCA MK Chief Executive said: “We’re organising this event to raise awareness of the plight of rough sleeping among young people in Milton Keynes. Since we lost our government funding last year, we know that without the support of local businesses and local people, we would be unable to continue our services and many more young people would be sleeping on the streets and have less options of realising their potential.
We are calling on the local community, old and young, to sign up to the YMCA MK Sleep Easy to help us support young people in our services today and into the future. One night sleeping rough can make a lifetime difference.”
