Southgate Scouts are raising money for local homelessness charity All People All Places

Scouts take part in the cardboard sleep-out in Southgate

A group of scouts have helped raised thousands of pounds for a local homelessness charity – by sleeping outside in cardboard boxes.

Members of Southgate Scouts took part in the sleep-out as a way to learn more about the challenges people sleeping rough face every night, particularly in winter.

The sleep-out on Sunday (7^th) saw 47 scouts using cardboard, tarpaulin and duct tape to construct their own makeshift homes for the night, putting their sleeping bags inside their boxes.

For safety reasons the event took place within the grounds of a local Scouts headquarters, rather than on the streets. But there was rain overnight – compounding the “misery” of the experience for the children taking part.

One of the participants was Lora, who said afterwards: “I’m glad that I experienced it, because now I know the struggles that the people of our world have to face and that most people are not comfortable every night and not safe.”

Another scout, Jago, added: “I get cold really easily and even though I did have lots of layers on I don’t like the cold. The cold came into my box […] It’s great to have done it [the sleep-out], but it would be so hard to keep on doing it. I don’t think I could.”

The event was organised by the 20th and 23rd Southgate Scouts, and they were joined by members of the 4th and 14th troops as well.

North London charity All People All Places (APAP) recently launched its latest winter fundraising campaign, with an aim of raising £22,000 – thanks to fundraising by the scouts the campaign has now hit a total of £16,621.

Donate to APAP’s ‘Help Before Homeless’ campaign:
Visit avivacommunityfund.co.uk/p/help-before-homelessness/backers

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