Eden sleep out for 1 night is to raise awareness of those sleeping out on the streets of Cornwall and to raise funds for the Charity St Petroc's. I have pondered doing this for a few years but always found a reason not to. This year I put it to St Just Town Council that I'd like to do it as 'Mayor of St Just' and they told me to go for it so I've registered so will be sleeping outside for the night on 25th November. Please support me in raising funds.
UPDATE: I took part and the event does make you think, even though I know I had it very cushy compared to someone on the streets. I knew that no matter how bad, I'd be home in my own bed the next day. I also knew I would be eating and drinking and would be kept safe. What I did experience was that hard ground is difficult for your body to tolerate and that is not just because my bones are over 60!
Listening to the story of someone who had run a business successfully for 20 years before things went wrong and she and her husband lost it all, confirmed my worse fears of the judgements people sometimes make. When she dropped a prescious coin at risk of going down a drain, she dropped to the floor to resue it. She was kicked whilst on the ground as an observer assumed she was drunk (not that that would justify that assault) and the assailant verbally abused her to tell her to clear off. She did not feel she could go to the Police as she had lost her sense of worth. To heel and help people feel respected and human, she told us she needed people to speak with her and hear her story without judgements.
In my experience, when I have spoken to folk finding themselves on the street, they nearly all have a story that suggests if life deals any one of us a bad set of life chances, we could be there with nowhere to go and I like to think people would recognise what I have been, or could be again, if given the opportunity.
PLEASE DONATE.
