World Homeless Day aims to raise awareness about the needs of people who currently experience homelessness and promote work in local communities to alleviate suffering and prevent death.
As an organisation that is built on a community response to youth homelessness, every day is homeless day for us. Each and every conversation our fantastic service coordinators have with every young person is not just about their Nightstop stay…. it’s about their wellbeing, their plans for a place to call their own and how we can help them achieve that. They are hugely invested in helping young people whether they stay with us or not.
This international day is a good reminder of why charities like us exist and how the power of people behind us helps us achieve good things together. Things like our kind hosts, who offer their spare room as a safe space where young people can relax, draw fresh strength and start again. Or our growing community champions team that spread the word about the fantastic service Sussex Nightstop is. And of course, vitally, our committed funders and business supporters like Archangels Architects, Mortgage Medics and Hive HR, without whom we couldn’t evolve and respond to homelessness.
From a community perspective, World Homeless Day is important for two reasons:
- It helps people understand more about homelessness and those experiencing it. You can find out more about homelessness on our about homelessness page and this video from Depaul does a brilliant job of showcasing what homelessness feels like to a young person.
Here are three quotes from young people who stayed with us:
“They all helped me a lot when I was in a time of need and I didn’t feel I had much control”
“Nightstop helps people to start again by giving them somewhere safe to stay”
“Without Nightstop there would be lots of young people rough sleeping in Brighton”
- It provides an opportunity to let people know how they can help. There’s lots you can do – here are five things:
- If you have a spare room and live in Brighton & Hove, please consider hosting with us.
- If you want to volunteer but not host, consider joining us as a community champion. Info about volunteering with us here.
- If you’d like to donate, you can do so via our Local Giving page.
- If you fancy a fundraising event, take a look at our fundraising page for events you can enter, or contact us if you’d like to run your own event for an info pack.
- If you like social media, please follow us and share our posts. As a small charity, every single person who gets behind us makes a difference.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post and please, get in touch if you’d like to join our community response to youth homelessness.
