Hi, My name is Meg and I work for Turning Lives Around.
Each year we support over one thousand people in West Yorkshire out of homelessness. One of the services we provide in partnership with Leeds City Council is Street Outreach. Last year, just before Christmas, on a really cold and wet night, I went out and did a late shift with our street outreach worker. There were so many people on the streets in the rain, sitting on carrier bags to try and keep their bums dry, it was a hard realisation of their reality. We had a chat with them and referred them to several of our partner organisations that were providing warm food, indoors, where they could be assessed and hopefully given a bed for the night, which is the start of the process of supporting them into more permanent accommodation.
I have never been so glad to get home, close my door, turn up the heating and put dry clothes on. But the thought that kept seeping back into my consciousness that night was that not everybody got to come back home to the dry and the warm, kept me awake that night.
So, on Friday afternoon, July 14th, to help raise money for our work and awareness of what we do and how it helps, I am willing to let you throw a wet sponge at me from 20 yards away. I will be standing in our central office car park, 4 Ashbrooke Business Park, Hunslet, the google maps link is included in this post, in a plastic poncho and if you donate £20 via the local giving link included in this post, you can throw a sponge. Please remember to include your name with your donation, or you won't get to take your chance.
I know this is a silly challenge, but it’s as close to the experience of sleeping on the streets in the rain as I ever want to get. Thanks in advance and hope to see you Friday.
