TV star Ben joins event to help the homeless
GAME of Thrones star Ben Crompton has helped launch the Newcastle leg of an international fundraising campaign for the homeless.
The World’s Big Sleep-Out will take place on December 7 in cities across the globe, including New York, New Delhi and Barcelona, with around 50,000 people expected to take part.
Around 2,000 fundraisers are expected to participate in Newcastle’s Exhibition Park, where this week’s launch took place.
Funds raised there are to be equally divided between the charities supported by Big Sleep-out, which help some of the 68.5 million people who are displaced globally, and the Newcastle-based Street Zero partnership, which was launched late last year.
Street Zero was set up with the mission to make it everyone’s business to end rough sleeping in Newcastle for good by 2022.
Partners from public, private and third-sector organisations, including Changing Lives, Crisis and Newcastle City Council, have worked together to develop a city-wide plan that aims to help rough sleepers’ transition into independent living through compassion and understanding their individual needs.
Ben Crompton was joined by Bob Eldridge MBE, chair of the Street Zero partnership, and Newcastle City Council’s cabinet member for housing Coun Linda Hobson at Exhibition Park to announce the event.
Mr Eldridge said: “Street Zero has brought together experts from the full spectrum of support services across the city to collaborate and effectively help those sleeping rough.
“It is clear that the majority of the time, rough sleeping is not a choice, but a result of many accumulating pressures that can affect anyone at any stage of their life.
“By treating people with dignity, responding to their individual needs and providing them with a long-term safe and stable place to live, Newcastle can take action to help people transition from life on the streets and sustain this change.” He added: “The World’s Big Sleep-Out in Exhibition Park will be a fantastic event bringing the city together. It is a great opportunity for people in Newcastle to make a direct contribution to ending rough sleeping here in our city.”
Coun Hobson said: “In Newcastle, a lot of incredible work already takes place to support people, but we can always do more. The World’s Big SleepOut will highlight the problem on a global scale and will allow us to help people across the world as well as those in our city.
“When we gather for the night at Exhibition Park, we do so knowing the following night we’ll be able to keep warm and dry in our homes, but for some that isn’t a possibility.
“Let’s come together to help change that.”
The international event has been organised by Josh Littlejohn MBE, cofounder of the charity Social Bite.
He said: “I am blown away by the response to The World’s Big Sleep-Out so far and incredibly excited to have 50 cities all over the world taking part.”
“We can also send a message to the world’s political leaders that urgent action is required to address the human suffering that we each witness on our streets every day.”
■ To register for Newcastle’s Big SleepOut, visit: www.bigsleepout.com/ join-a-sleep-out/newcastle.