St Basils BIG Sleepout a BIG success at Millennium Point
On Friday 3rd December St Basils hosted their big sleepout at Millennium Point with the aim to raise funds to help end youth homelessness. The event previously hosted at Birmingham Cathedral moved to versatile event venue Millennium Point. Approximately 300 people joined up to do the sleepout to fundraise for the charity.
Due to last year and the pandemic, 2020’s sleepout was cancelled. Usually, the event raises over £100,000 so the organisers hope that this year’s is the bigger than ever. The event tries to appeal not only to the adventurous nature of people. But also, to their willingness to support young people with additional challenges of homelessness through these difficult times.
Homelessness shouldn’t be part of growing up
St Basils work with young people ages 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, increase opportunities, and prevent homelessness.
During April 2020 – March 2021, St Basils has been able to provide 3,860 young people with advice and support, 590 young people stayed with them every night. Not only this 92% of young people that stayed with St Basils moved on in a planned positive way.
A wealth of support to make the event a success
The event was also supported by projects and companies that made the evening a success.
Langar Aid, a project that that focuses on fighting hunger worldwide and provides vital food and water in emergencies, supplied curry and samosas to guests to warm up. The Band of the West Midlands Fire Service rose spirits by providing some tunes in a festive way. Salvation Army Cradley Heath knitted hats for the outreach team to give out, Campanile Hotels also donated thermal hats.
A team from Squire Patton Boggs, a global law firm, had the important role of handing out the cardboard boxes to guests. The boxes were kindly provided by the packaging manufactures Schumacher.
And of course, everyone that helped raise money and took part in sleeping rough for one night, so young people don’t have to.
As a charity ourselves, we were thrilled to be involved
Supporting young people improves the chances they have for their future. Helping provide a safe space, education and resources allows them to build better foundations for later life. As a strong supporter for education for STEM, Millennium Point wanted to take part.
A team from Millennium Point including CEO Abbie Vlahakis took part in the sleepout to help raise money for the life-changing charity St Basils.
So far Millennium Point have raised over £1,500, however we’re not finished yet! There’s still time to donate.
Couldn’t make it to the sleepout? You can still make a difference
It costs £5 a day to support a young person and keep them at a St Basils project. Supporters can make a one-off donation here. Help change a young person’s life for the better today.
Want to book an event space with Millennium Point?
The multi-award-winning Millennium Point has 17 versatile event spaces to choose from and an excellent events team to help you with your event.
For further information about the event, charity, or venue you can get in contact with our team.
Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.