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Byte Night 2015: building a network for young homeless people

Editorial Type: News     Date: 01-2015    Views: 2716   





By Ken Deeks, director, Amber Group and founder of Byte Night

With the Christmas and New Year holidays fast receding into history, how is your New Year’s resolution holding up? If you’re like most people it’s probably already near forgotten. Maybe you never made one in the first place. But rather than worrying about how to fulfil a vague ambition, why not commit to do one thing this year which will help vulnerable young people, give you a unique opportunity to network, and provide a lot of fun along the way?

Byte Night is a sponsored sleep out that takes place on Friday 2nd October, in eight locations around the UK. Last year 1,300 people took part and raised £1.1 million to support Action for Children services working with homeless children and young people across the country. I launched the event in 1998 by challenging my colleagues in the technology industry to sleep rough - 30 people slept out on that night, raising £35,000 for the charity. The growth since then has been phenomenal and I am determined to keep encouraging new businesses to sign up and sleep out.

It is estimated that 80,000 young people experience being homeless in the UK every year. For many this may be for a short time, one or two nights, for some it may be longer. But for any young person becoming homeless is a traumatic experience that makes it more likely they will become victims of violence, suffer mental health problems or struggle with addiction.

Through visiting Action for Children services funded by Byte Night, I have come to understand that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ young homeless person, it really can happen to anyone’s child. When the charity polled 8-16 year olds last year it found that more than one in four had thought about running away, possibly thinking this was the only way out of problems at home. Only a fraction of these young people will have gone through with it, but that still leaves a significant number at risk.

Byte Night sleepers raise money through sponsorship and also by holding their own fundraising events like parties, fitness challenges and fun team-building stunts. All the money raised goes to Action for Children where it makes an important difference, funding services that either help young people and families to deal with challenges and avoid homelessness, or provide a safe place for homeless young people to stay and get back on their feet.

These services include Gael Og in Inverness which supports young people who have had problems with school, drugs and offending and gives them guidance to get onto a better path. This kind of preventative work stops young people from becoming homeless and keeps them safe. At the other end of the country is Nightstop Dorset, which finds accommodation at short notice for young people who have nowhere else to stay. Trusted volunteers provide them with a safe place to sleep and some much needed emotional support while longer term help is arranged.

As well as helping some of society’s most vulnerable young people, Byte Night also provides an opportunity to bond with colleagues and meet peers from other firms in technology and wider business. A lot of Byte Nighters get hooked after their first time and keep coming back year after year, enjoying the camaraderie even if they don’t necessarily enjoy the sleeping conditions.

I am so proud of the event that Byte Night has grown into. When we ran the first sleep out 16 years ago none of us thought we had started a £1 million event. The way it has grown shows that so many people in this industry understand the part they can play to fight youth homelessness. We hope you will make a late New Year’s Resolution to join us and make 2015’s event bigger and better than ever before.

See who has already signed up to Byte Night and how you can register on the dedicated website: bytenight.org.uk.

You are also invited to the Byte Night networking reception on Thursday 19th March at the BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ from 18:30 – 20:30. Please email bytenight@actionforchildren.org.uk to register.

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