MHS Homes sleepout

terrific, thanks Bill! If anyone else would like to share their experiences and photos, please do just add them on :)

Excellent write-up.

I arrived at the MHS homes office car park at 5pm to start building my home for the night. The hope was to have enough daylight left to at least have the box constructed. My main criteria was to use materials that could only be found on the streets, boxes and bits of plastic wrapping. I felt it important to keep the experience as real as I possibly could. Unfortunately the rain started to fall 15 minutes into my build and things were looking quite damp to say the least. But, this was nothing compared to what the homeless have to endure every single night, I was feeling cold and very wet but adamant. My box was built and the rain stopped, time for some exploring and meeting other sleepers. The general mood was very upbeat with a sense of companionship, my 11 year daughter and 17 year old son joined me at 7pm for an hour, it is important for them to understand why I and many other people were willing to give up our saturday night to sleep outside, the next time they crank the heating thermostat up because they are cold I will remind them of this night.
The evening went quite fast, with speeches from Emmaus, Alzheimers, MHS Homes and we had some music to listen too. It was also a fantastic opportunity to spend time with the residents of MHS Homes while sharing a hot coffee or two.
Finally got into my box at midnight, wrapped myself up and prepared for the night. I left all of my gadgets, phones, torches, in the car, and all I had for company was the cold. As realistic as possible being the main criteria for me. I managed to finally drift off to sleep at about 4am, only to be woken at 5am by the birds. All in all it was a fantastic opportunity for me to not only raise vital funds for the 2 charities but to actually experience the hardship of homelessness for myself, the things we take for granted are so absent when you are all alone, in a makeshift box, with the sense of being vulnerable to not only others but the weather. Many Thanks to MHS Homes for organising this event and for giving me the chance to make a small but equally important donation and an experience which I will remember for many years to come.

Matt Hobbs- Commerical Contract Manager- Swale Heating. Raised £550.00.