Published Monday 4 December 2017 at 15:56
Around 100 volunteers took part in a big town centre sleep-out held in Blackburn to highlight the plight of homeless young people.
December 2017 is Nightsafe’s 27th Anniversary and to celebrate this they held a mass sleep-out to raise awareness of their work whilst helping to raise much needed funds for Nightsafe’s projects.
Nightsafe is a small local charity based in Blackburn with Darwen that supports homeless young people aged 16-24 years old.
Cllr Phil Riley, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, said:
The fact that so many local people were prepared to put up with a very cold night sleeping on the streets showed the collective sense of compassion in the borough for the less fortunate members of our local community. It was a great example of why Blackburn with Darwen is such a great place to live.
The initiative goes hand-in-hand with the work the Council and the BID and other partners have been doing to support vulnerable people in the borough by commissioning specialist outreach street teams to work directly with people who are begging on the streets – giving them the help and support they need.
Nightsafe has a number of projects including an emergency night shelter, 2 supported housing projects, 4 outreach flats, an activity based day centre, a volunteer mentor project, a specialist under 18’s support worker and an outreach support service in the community supporting young people in their own tenancies.
