Fine & Country agents sleep rough to raise awareness of homelessness

Fine & Country agents around the country have taken part in sponsored Sleep Out events to raise vital funds to prevent youth homelessness, in association with the Fine & Country Foundation.

Five offices across the country volunteered to sleep rough, including Abergavenny, Banbury, Coventry, Leamington Spa, and Mayfair. Overall, the teams raised a fantastic total of over £6,000. The money raised for the Fine & Country Foundation will be distributed to charities which work to prevent homelessness in the UK, including Centrepoint, Helping Hands and St Basils.

The Sleepout is a nationwide event organised by the End Youth Homelessness campaign. Each individual Sleepout event partners with a local charity, so the money raised by Fine & Country agents will have an impact on homelessness in the area that they participated in.

End Youth Homelessness work to help the 80,000 young people who experience being homeless by finding them accommodation, getting young people into work or training, and trying to prevent the causes of homelessness.

Recently Malcolm Lindley, Sharon Lindley, Matthew Pryke and Emilie Despois from the Fine & Country head office successfully raised £1,770 for Centrepoint, a leading charity that works closely with over 7,000 young people. The team exceeded their committed fundraising target by 250% during the event on 12 November. It wasn’t all about sleeping on the cold hard concrete, however. It was a lively and entertaining evening for the volunteers who took the brave step of giving up their warm, comfortable beds and sleeping out on a blustery November night. The fact that they were helping to eradicate and create more awareness about youth homelessness definitely provided some comforting solace. Amidst the underlying more sombre purpose of the event, it proved to be an enjoyable and unforgettable evening for the participants.

One participant, Emilie Despois, Marketing Manager at Fine & Country said: “Notwithstanding the fact that we were camping out in the cold, this inspiring experience offered a memorable insight into the plight of nearly 400,000 people who are affected by homelessness every year in the UK. It was a rewarding opportunity for us to be able to highlight the reality of homelessness in our own small way. Having to resume work the next day only added to the enormity of the challenge! I am grateful for the support of all the people who so generously donated to the cause.”

Meanwhile, seven members of the Fine & Country Abergavenny team raised in excess of £2,500 as they slept out in support of Llamau, a leading charity that works with 15,000 homeless and at risk people in Wales. Fine & Country Leamington Spa and Banbury bravely attended their own events to raise money for Helping Hands.

Clint Nykamp, Partner at Fine & Country Coventry, slept out in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral with two other members of the team to raise money for local homeless charity St Basils. He said: “When we found out more about the charity we very quickly realised that this isn’t just a charity that helps young people off the streets. They source accommodation, put them into a youth program to teach them primarily life skills and even help them get into industries that they are keen, like a great music program that they run.”

Then it came to the point of the night; sleeping on the streets with full exposure to the elements.

“At midnight it was time to settle in for the night and try and keep warm in our sleeping bags,” Clint said. “Needless to say, it was a sleepless night and we were all up by 5am. However none of us minded as this was only a tiny taste of what people all around our country experience.”

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