The purpose of this event is to raise awareness of the numbers of people in Stroud who have no fixed abode. This means that they do not have a place to call home.
National figures tell us that one in Five Teenagers have sofa surfed. Sofa surfing is a term used to describe a situation where someone is sleeping in other people’s accommodation on the floor or on a sofa. People may be going from one place to another to keep a roof over their head, people who sofa surf are not included on the local Homelessness statistics!
We know that there are many people in Stroud of all age’s sofa surfing tonight.
If you do not have an address there are many things that you cannot do, you can’t register for benefits, health care, dental care and you can’t open a bank account.
If you are sofa surfing, how are you to stay organised? You have nowhere to store your things, you will be tired, you will have nowhere to go during the day and if you are lucky enough to be working you will inevitably be struggling with performance issues.
Marah supports people who are in this position by:
- Providing hot, healthy and free food three times a week.
- Providing advocacy and support particularly around housing and benefits issues.
- Providing a place to go, people to talk to and someone to help
- We provide emergency food parcels and have access to emergency clothing and bedding.
We need your support to raise money for Marah by undertaking a sponsored sleep out on 5th at St Laurence Church, then go into work/college from the site next day. We are also asking local businesses to support us through their staff undertaking the sponsored sleep out and then feeding back the learning next day to colleagues about what effect sleeping rough has on performance and one’s ability to live effectively in the modern society.
For details on how to take part visit the Rough Traders website.