It was a successful evening for Boycott Your Bedders in the North, who raised over £75,000 for Action for Children as over 140 people braved the elements to sleep out in Millennium Square in Leeds. With four other locations across the UK, in London, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, the grand total pledged for the charity was over £450,000.
Teams from companies including Sky, Burberry, First Customer Contact, Harvey Nash, Axiologik, Hippo Digital, DTP Group, Masonite, Turner and Townsend, Glean and many others. Participants joined an indoor reception, at prominent city landmark Leeds Civic Hall – taking part in a nationwide quiz, live auction and the opportunity to hear more about Action for Children’s work – before heading outside to bed down for the night.
Boycott Your Bed, known initially as ‘Byte Night’, was set up in London in 1998 by Ken Deeks, MBE and a group of his senior friends in the IT sector. The fundraiser for Action for Children, raises money to support vulnerable children across the UK. Since its inception, more than £13.5m has been raised. Right now, over 4 million children live in poverty across the UK. With the impact of the cost of living crisis hitting home, they’re even more vulnerable than ever. The sleepout represents critical funding for Action for Children, enabling them to provide more practical and emotional care and support for young people in need.
“It’s been another fantastic year for Boycott Your Bed North; thank you to everyone who participated on the 6th of October and braved the cold for the evening. I speak for myself, and on behalf of the board, we are very grateful for the commitment shown by our community. The funds raised wouldn’t have been possible without the support of incredible businesses who got behind us to make a total as impressive as this possible.”
Steve Rake, Co-Chair of the England North Boycott Your Bed Board and Director at Nash Tech
Fellow board member, Rachel Mcelroy, Marketing Director at Axiologik added, “Sleeping out in a city centre is cold, uncomfortable and makes you feel pretty vulnerable. It makes you realise how lucky you are. We do it to support children who are cold, hungry, scared and need help from the services run by Action for Children. Having so many organisations join us this year in Leeds was inspirational. Next year, we want to go even bigger, so keep an eye out to get involved.”
Thanking the organisations attending, Ellie McLeod, Assistant Director High Value Fundraising at Action for Children, said: “Thank you to all who took part in this year’s event and to our National Supporting Partner Lenovo. By braving the cold and bedding down for the night, our sleepers have helped ensure that Action for Children can continue its work across the UK to ensure all children have the safe and happy childhood they deserve.”
The legacy of Boycott your Bed continues, and the charity and board look forward to hosting again and welcoming more organisations to participate and support Action for Children next year.