Over 100 pupils from Monksdown Primary School in Liverpool have taken part in our first ‘Sleep out to help out’ event.
On Friday 8th March the pupils where tasked with spending a night at their school to learn about the challenges faced by homeless people and how they can help.
The evening began with a presentation from Petrus' Marketing and Communications Officer, Corinne, who shared videos of service users talking about their experiences of homelessness and the impact Petrus’ support has had on them.
Corinne said, “Homelessness can be a scary subject for children but the children at Monksdown Primary School showed so much compassion! It was amazing to see how they had understood that homelessness could happen to anyone, and it didn’t mean someone was bad, lazy, or uneducated.”
The pupils then went on to decorate bags with messages that raised awareness and challenged misconceptions of homelessness before moving on to building cardboard shelters to sleep in for the night and walking around the playground when the temperatures had dropped around midnight.
One of the school pupils told us that they had an amazing time, and it was his first time sleeping out anywhere without family, so he was nervous. He is very proud of himself and very proud to be part of an amazing school who raise awareness and fundraise for such great causes.
We were introduced to the school by Positive Footprints, who are also part of the Regenda Group. With their support we hope to roll this opportunity out to more schools in their network, helping more children understand homelessness and become inspired to create change in their futures!
The school has raised over £2,300 so far, with the total still climbing! The funds raised will be split evenly between Petrus and Monksdown Primary School.
If you would like to support Monksdown Primary School’s fundraising, please donate to their enthuse page, here.