Cardiff students sleep out to raise money for homeless

STUDENTS will sleep outside the Students’ Union tonight to raise money for the homeless.

Volunteers ready to promote the event around the university. From left to right: Chloe Lavington (Volunteering Coordinator), Rachel Jones (Volunteering Coordinator), Michelle Lenton-Johnson (Student Development Manager).
Volunteers promote the Student Sleepout. From left: volunteering coordinators Chloe Lavington and Rachel Jones and student development manager Michelle Lenton-Johnson.

The event, called Student Sleepout, will take place outside Park Place. It is organised by Cardiff Volunteering and aims to educate students on the realities of homelessness.

More than 4,000 young people in Wales were classified as homeless in the last 18 months.

Claire Blakeway, Students’ Union president, hopes that the event will have a positive impact on students.

Ms Blakeway said: “It will show students some of the realities that homeless people face including poor weather conditions, damp and noise.

“This will raise awareness and hopefully highlight to people just how much of an issue it is.”

Cardiff Volunteering organised the event as a part of the work they do with local homeless charities such as Huggard, The Wallich and The Trinity Centre.

The sleep-out is a pilot event for Cardiff Volunteering which hopes that, with a big student turnout, these events can be held on a much larger scale in future.

Students taking part have been asked to raise a minimum of £20 in sponsorship, with all money going to Cardiff Volunteering’s work with their affiliated charities.

Tickets are £5 to include snacks, a hot drink, breakfast and a Student Sleepout T-shirt. The money from ticket sales will go towards covering costs.

  • Students wishing to take part in tonight’s event they can log-in to their student account and buy tickets from www.cardiffstudents.com