Volunteers are spending a night in a cardboard box, ‘sleeping rough so others don’t have to’.
Sleep Easy is a national event that raises money for youth homelessness and will be taking place on February 28.
The initiative is sponsored by the YMCA, which provides accommodation for more than 450 people in west London.
Between 25 and 50 people will spend the night in the grounds of Christ the Saviour Church in Ealing Broadway from 7pm to 7am, raising money and awareness.
YMCA West London Marketing and Communications Manager Jan Lewis, who has taken part before, said: “It does give you that feeling of ‘what if I could not go home to a hot shower and bed’.
“We are amazed when people say afterwards how much it meant to them.
“Youth homelessness has really increased in recent years and many of the people who come to us have been sleeping rough.
“For our sleep out we provide cardboard boxes and pizzas and ask people to set up a JustGiving page.”
Three of the borough’s councillors have confirmed their participation; Leader of the Liberal Democrats Gary Malcolm and Ealing Common Councillor Jon Ball who are doing it for the second time, and Southfield councillor Andrew Steed.
Independent councillor candidate for Perivale ward in May 2014, Alex Nieora, will also be having a go at sleeping rough on the evening which will be opened by the Mayor of Ealing, Councillor Kamaljit Dhindsa.
Anybody aged 18 and over can join in. Email communications@londonymca.org for more information.
Case Study:
Felicidade, 21, was born in Angola. Her parents separated when she was young and she did not know her mother.
Her mother died early and her father moved to the UK but asked Felicidade to join him in 2009 before he also died a year later.
With no English, no home, no job and no benefits, she moved from friend to friend to have somewhere to sleep.
Finally she found herself with nowhere to live and spent a couple of nights sleeping in a station. She was scared and worried about how she would survive.
On Felicidade’s third day with nowhere to go, the council referred her to West London YMCA and for the first time she had somewhere to stay that felt safe.
She wasn’t confident about her English so she enrolled on an English course, and a course in health and social care at Harrow College.
But Felicidade’s Benefits Advisor said she would need to give up her studies if she wanted to claim benefits, and without benefits she had no means of supporting herself while she studied.
Her YMCA Housing Support Officer liaised with the Benefit Office and Harrow College and appealed.
After many months Felicidade was successful in her appeal and Harrow College agreed to fund her studies.
She is now applying to study for an HND in Business and Technology.
