Hebburn fundraisers ‘sleep rough’ during Storm Babet to raise money for charity
Written by Ben Boyd on 23rd October 2023
A group of fundraisers in Hebburn have raised nearly £4000 by showcasing what it is like to ‘sleep rough’ for the charity Streetworx, an organisation who help and support homeless people in the North East.
The idea being that people come together to showcase what it is like for homeless people to sleep on the streets, particularly in the winter months.
The sleep-out, which took place at Hebburn Town football club, has been an annual occurrence for the past five years. Angie Comerford, who has organised the annual sleep-out since 2019, was joined alongside 19 other volunteers.
The participants of the annual sleep-out event in Hebburn.
Heading into the event, the Met Office had warned of extreme weather conditions with Storm Bebet wreaking havoc across the North-East.
Angie believes the wild weather helped raise awareness of the event: “I definitely think it’s helped raise more money as the GoFundMe (donations) went up after pictures (of the volunteers) were uploaded.”
Despite there being some anxiety surrounding the adverse conditions and worries the event might not be able to go ahead. The weather didn’t affect people’s attitudes and a desire to help out.
“The atmosphere was brilliant,” Angie said. “Everyone is so lovely and a lot of them are volunteers for Streetworx so they have a passion for the cause.”
Streetworx sleepers via Facebook
Angie also explained that during the evening, the weather took a turn for the worse and resulted in her having to put up extra protection on the railings of the stand at Hebburn Town’s stadium in the form of plastic coverings to stop their sleeping bags getting wet.
“It was awful through the night, but we have raised £3,800 which is absolutely amazing and well worth freezing our backside off.”
To contribute to the work Angie and the volunteers have done, and to help support Streetworx’s mission, click the link to their GoFundMe here.
