A team of five Vision employees are set to sleep rough on Friday 23rd November to raise money for the Blackburn Rovers Football Club Community Trust and Nightsafe.
The lucky volunteers, made up of Fraser Donaldson, Shaun Ferris, Matt Bowes, Corey Tate and Josh Allen, hope to raise around £500 to help both of these local community initiatives.
The BRFC Community Trust is a Blackburn-based charity aimed at offering all members of the local community access to the highest quality programme of grassroots football, education, inclusion initiatives and awareness projects to encourage off-field participation, success and enjoyment using the crest and brand name of Blackburn Rovers Football Club whilst Nightsafe is a charity supporting homeless people aged between 16 and 24 years old.
The event, entitled ‘Sleep Out for Blackburn’ is aimed at giving a snapshot of what life is like on the streets for a homeless person and the difficulties they face, night after night.
Beginning at 8pm at the Blackburn Rovers football ground, Ewood Park, the team will be giving up the comfort of their own homes and beds for the night and sleeping under the stars in a bid to raise as much money as possible.
Concluding at 8am on Saturday morning, a wide range of local businesses and individuals are getting involved for these two very worthwhile causes.
Gary Robinson, chief executive officer of Blackburn Rovers Community Trust, is proud that his organisation is taking a big step in an ongoing effort to help tackle homelessness issues in the local area, explaining:
“Our National Citizen Service Youth Board is already very active in supporting Nightsafe and a number of other local support networks that help those who find themselves sleeping rough in Blackburn, so this major event is further testimony to how seriously we take this issue.
“So many people who find themselves out on the streets are often in that situation through no fault of their own and can quickly find themselves with nothing when they’ve got so much more to give and achieve in life.
“Indeed, our charity has been provided with some fantastic support from people who were previously homeless, so we feel very strongly that we should continue to help those who are most in need within our local area”.
Matt Bowes, Head of Digital at Vision, said: “We’re a local company with roots in the area dating as far back as 1789 and we’re proud to be able to support causes that are very close to our hearts and prevalent in our society today.
“With seven global offices, we are committed to supporting every community in which we have a base in and it’s been endearing to see how many Vision staff members wanted to get involved.
“The number of people at risk of homelessness or having been made homeless has gone up in recent years so we’re honoured – albeit a little nervous – about sleeping out to raise awareness of this nationwide issue.”
To donate to the Sleep Out event, please visit Vision’s Just Giving page which can be found here.