Friday, October 2nd marks the 18th annual Byte Night, a sponsored sleep out which sees more than 1,500 people across the UK spend the night exposed to the elements to raise money for Action for Children. Over 230 sleepers have already pledged to take part in the 2015 Midlands event, to be held in St Paul’s Square, Birmingham
It is great fun for everyone involved and an opportunity for companies to network and enjoy an unusual social occasion. However, the reason people get involved in the UK’s largest sponsored sleep out is to help fund projects like the Ladywood Project in Birmingham that provides a family friendly and safe environment for children to have contact with their families.
Nicole is one such vulnerable young person who has benefitted from the services of this vital local project. She said, “At the age of 14 my mum and dad split up and my dad moved out. My mum moved her new partner in the family home and things began to change. It got so bad in the house that I had to move out.
“I’ve been in and out of foster care and sleeping on friends’ sofas while my education has suffered. I was referred by social services to Action for Children’s Ladywood Centre and our worker has been really helpful. She is also supporting my dad and helping him intensively with parenting. I had contact through the project with my brothers and sisters about two or three times a week for a couple hours at the centre where there was always something to do.
“If the service wasn’t available it would have been so hard to see my brothers and sisters and stay in contact with them. I couldn’t go back to my mums at the time so I’m so grateful for this service. I am now studying Health and Social Care because I want to work with teenagers like myself who have been through awful situations or be a family support worker.”
Each year, businesses from across the country spend the night sleeping out to raise sponsorship for Action for Children West Midlands on Byte Night. It raised £1.1 million in 2014, with more 1,300 people sleeping out across the UK.
Andrew McManus, IT Director at Eversheds and chair of the Byte Night Midlands board, said: “An Action for Children survey earlier this year recently revealed that 12 per cent of young people in Birmingham phone their parents every day after moving out of the family home which didn’t surprise me as the first steps into independence can be tough.
“Sadly help isn’t always available for the most vulnerable young people in Birmingham such as those have left the care system or who have suffered a severe relationship breakdown with their family. These young people can be forced to live independently at a very early age and with little support, and they don’t always have someone to phone and ask ‘how do I fix this?’ or ‘would you be able to give me a sub?’
“Action for Children runs vital services that equip youngsters like Nicole with basic skills from budgeting to housekeeping, ensuring they have a safe and loving place to call home.
“Byte Night is just one night sleeping under the stars that can make a lifetime’s difference to the many young people who find themselves on the street or sofa-surfing, unsure of what the future holds. All young people deserve a safe and loving place to call home, join us on Byte Night to help make it happen”
NEC Group, Eversheds, SCC, Dell, Xpertise Recruitment, Birmingham Airport, Fujitsu, Hockley Ltd, EY, Interserve, D2NA, PwC, Harvey Nash, Arden Consulting, iStorage, GSA Techsource, Aggregate Industries, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Artemis Executive Consulting, BDO, Britvic Soft Drinks, BT, Civica, Code42, Dimension Data, Deutsche Bank, EMC, Entec Si, ERIS Technology Limited, Family, Grafton Group, Hockley Building Services, HSBC, Integrity Solutions, Microteam, Nowcomm Ltd, Ricoh and Walgreens Boots Alliance are already signed up to sleep out at Byte Night West Midlands 2015.
The most recent figures for the Midlands show 1138 young people registered homeless or potentially homeless in 2011/12. Only a fraction of the true number of homeless young people are captured by this statistic, as many are not officially recognised by local authorities. It is estimated that 80,000 young people a year experience homelessness in the UK – leaving them vulnerable to violence, mental health problems and addiction.
