New member CEO Sleepout

April 9th 2024

CEO Sleepout is a national charity set up to inspire the business community to unite to fight homelessness; raising money for frontline services, helping to change lives.

CEO Sleepout brings business leaders together to make a stand against homelessness. They do this by holding CEO Sleepout events in cities the length of the UK, from Northumberland to Portsmouth and everywhere in between, raising funds that make a real difference to people facing homelessness in their host cities. 

 

Originally starting in Middlesbrough in 2013, they’ve since raised a phenomenal £4.5Million pounds from over 6000 participants, and donated money to over 200 hard-working charities on the frontline of homelessness, changing countless lives.

 

Bianca Robinson, CEO of CEO Sleepout said: “We have joined Tees Valley Business Club to connect and build relationships with businesses across the Tees Valley and learning about the good work that's being done in business here.

 

“The next CEO Sleepout Middlesbrough happens on 2 May at Riverside Stadium, and we are calling Teessiders in business to get involved in what could be the best sleep of your life. Why? Because it could change a local person's life.”

 

Each year, Teesside's brilliant business community comes together, uniting to fight homelessness. Local families and individuals face unimaginable hardship and now, families unable to afford life's basics are becoming homeless at an alarming rate. In Middlesbrough alone, almost 400 households presented as homeless between May 2022 and June 2023 (Middlesbrough Council). And it's only getting worse.

The charity’s CEO, Bianca Robinson, said the event isn’t about replicating the real struggles the homeless face every night, but to raise awareness of just how hard their reality is.

“The CEO Sleepout is tough and you are exposed to the elements, but participants have peace of mind knowing they will return to a warm home.

“Many individuals and families across Teesside don’t have the guarantee of a full meal, warm home or secure roof over their heads when they go to bed that night.

“And as the cost-of-living crisis has exposed, we are all just a few steps away from that once unthinkable prospect.

“By 2024, the Government had vowed to end rough sleeping but the current situation is worse than ever before so that’s why we all need to come together and combat homelessness, and hopefully participants will end the CEO Sleepout with a greater appreciation for just how hard life is for lots of people across Teesside.”

 

To register for the next event, head to ceosleepout.co.uk/middlesbrough.