Valerie Govender and Matthew James in opening the Night on the Streets on the evening of Saturday 18 May.PHOTO: Supplied
- U-Turn Homeless Ministries’ “Night on the Streets” campaign raised over R650,000 and garnered support from participants across the globe, including virtual involvement from countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States.
- The event, aimed at raising awareness of homelessness, saw 30 participants spending a night on the pavement, experiencing some of the challenges faced by the homeless.
- U-Turn plans to make this campaign an annual event following its tremendous success.
U-turn Homeless Ministries delightedly reported its latest unique Night on the Streets awareness campaign on Saturday 18 May was a resounding success.
“We raised at least R650 000 and counting,” U-Turn’s Chief Communications Officer Valerie Govender told People’s Post. “Donations are still coming in, so we’ve decided to extend it to the end of the month! We had 30 participants, each of whom had very real experiences of what it felt like to sleep on the street.”
U-Turn has now decided A Night on the Streets will become an annual event to raise awareness of the plight of homelessness following several enthusiastic requests from participants and donors.
U-turn CEO Jean-Ray Knighton Fitt said the organisation was completely blown away by the tremendous success of the campaign.
U-Turn expressed great gratitude to sponsors like SMG BMW Constantia and other corporates.
Participants across the world
“We are already planning around a potential date for next year’s event with all the positive feedback we received,” Knighton Fitt added.
The event encouraged people to spend one night sleeping outside and experience a little bit of harsh homelessness personally (“Night on the Street” People’s Post 14 May). Thirty people answered the call to spend the night sleeping on the pavement outside the dealership on Main Road in Claremont, including Knighton Fitt and fellow U-Turn Champions.
Hundreds more supported the virtual option, by buying tickets via Quicket for R100. Many slept outside their homes, churches and schools to support the virtual event. The event broke international barriers by attracting support from a few countries abroad.
“To join us in solidarity we had participants in the United Kingdom, Ireland, America, Norway and Germany join us and sleep outside their homes,” Knighton Fitt pointed out.
“To my knowledge, this virtual event was the first of its kind to draw awareness to the experience of homelessness and we are glad to have been at the forefront of shaping a narrative around this worldwide issue.”
He admitted there were aspects of the experience that cushioned the full impact of what it meant to be homeless “but it was still a very real experience for him to sleep on the street”.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/yyep5sa3