Church-goers 'Sleep out' to Raise Awareness of Homelessness

Members of Buckingham’s parish church St Peter and St Pauls recently held a sponsored sleep out – in a cardboard box – to raise awareness of the plight of the region’s homeless. Around 190,000 people in Britain are thought to be without a roof over their heads.

The Revd Claire Wood said dozens turned out to brave the elements and sleep out, raising more than £500 for voluntary groups which work with homeless people in the area.

Howard Mordue, the Mayor of Buckingham was among those sleeping out, alongside the St Peter& St Paul's youth groups K2 and YAGs Young Adults during their stint in the early hours of the morning.  He said: ‘It was minus six degrees outside and very hard to shelter from the wind. We huddled together to keep our spirits up but it made me realise that without the warmth of friendship, it must be extremely frightening to find yourself in such a situation.  I  do hear of cases where teenagers have been thrown out of the family home because of an argument. It is very sad but they have no where to go and end up on the streets.’