Sleeping rough for one night was so hard... imagine not having a choice
Cop turned minister’s vow to help the homeless
A Renfrewshire minister joined parishioners to brave the cold and sleep out in the open air in a bid to help the homeless.
Rev Gary Noonan, of Houston and Killellan Kirk, and his team took part in Sleep Out in the Park and raised an impressive £8,000.
It was all part of a campaign organised by the Social Bite charity that saw thousands of people take part in the event on one night in parks in four Scottish cities, including Glasgow’s Kelvingrove.
Mr Noonan, a former Paisley police inspector, said: “We have supported the Simon Community and Glasgow City Mission with warm clothes over the last few years.
“Myself and members of the congregation wanted to do more to publicise and support homelessness.
“Last year was the first Social Bite Big Sleep Out in Edinburgh and this year it expanded to four cities, one being Glasgow. “We arranged to do it as a team. “Thirteen of us did it. Ten from the congregation and there was a couple of teachers from Gryffe High.”
The experience of sleeping out on a very cold night is something that Mr Noonan will not forget.
“There’s two different elements to it,” he said.
“The first part of the evening was entertainment at the bandstand, and within that it was interspersed with real-life stories of what it was like to be turned round by the work of Social Bite.
“That was a really profound experience hearing the stories and the vulnerability that people felt, yet there was the work that Social Bite did, and the hope that they found.
“Obviously, with Advent being a season of hope, there was the chance that Social Bite gave them.
“The other thing people were saying was homelessness is not just sleeping outside.
“It can be women in refuges. It can be temporary accommodation.
“People who were sleeping outside were saying Social Bite was treating them like human beings, not necessarily giving them something, but smiling at them and saying hello rather than ignoring them.
“That was quite profound in itself.”
Mr Noonan said he and his team were able to sleep out in secure surroundings.
“Yet, you still realise your vulnerability when you’re outside exposed to the elements,” he added.
“So, if it’s one person in a shop doorway, they’re extremely vulnerable.
“Come half past three I was freezing. It wasn’t even that cold.
“It didn’t drop below freezing and it wasn’t raining.
“It went to about zero but it wasn’t as cold as it can get.
“I had decent gear on, but again you realise there are people in just their jeans and maybe a sleeping bag and they can be lying on cardboard in maybe a shop doorway – and the conditions are brutal.”
We wanted to do more to publicise homelessness Rev Noonan