Shine Project Raises Over £11,000 with Sleep Out Event

On Friday 21st October, Kay Westgate and her team held a Sleep Out event at Lowestoft and Yarmouth Rugby Club to raise funds for the Shine Project and to raise awareness of homelessness in the Lowestoft area.

Participants were asked to spend the night sleeping out under the stars in a cardboard box and gain sponsorship towards the project.

Support was provided from Lowestoft & Great Yarmouth Rugby Club (who hosted the event), Cranswick Country Foods, Lowestoft Tesco, Lowestoft Tesco Express, Pakefield & Lowestoft Morrisons and Fully Loaded Removals Ltd.

In total 35 people slept out even though it rained for over 3 hours in the early hours of the morning with teams from Tarrant’s Property Services Ltd and Waveney Property Sservices Ltd.

The Shine Project aims to empower young people to achieve balance, building skills and resilience to overcome barriers and have successful transition into adulthood with the best start possible. We run twice weekly drop in sessions for young people to engage in positive activities as well as cooking lessons and sessions at our three allotment plots in Lowestoft. Cooking sessions help young people to learn about nutrition, try new things and build skills in budgeting for a healthy meal. The allotment sessions provide a safe space for them to engage in the nature and the outdoors. The produce from the allotment is used within our cooking sessions so that the young people can witness the process from being planted as a seed to being cooked as a healthy meal. Staff also visit local schools and provide one to one, group work and transitions support, giving local young people a listening ear and guidance through challenging times.

The team’s target was to raise £5,000 but after a brilliant effort the amount raised is over £11,000!

Huge congratulations to all who took part and if you need any marketing support for your event please contact us at: [email protected]