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Why I love the LandAid SleepOut. The extraordinary power of the Property Industry

Heads of Events, Paul Nanson tells us why the SleepOut is so special to him.

The planning for the SleepOut starts all the way back in the warm August sunshine. In seven months time we’re hoping to pull off the biggest ever LandAid SleepOut – with six events, plus a virtual SleepOut, all taking place on the same night.

Why so ambitious? Well, in the last year 161,000 young people were homeless or at risk of homelessness, so we want to raise as much money as possible to help make a difference.

Our ambitions were shared by the property industry, with M7 Real Estate, Landsec, Victoria Gate Leeds, Howard Group, and British Land all helping to provide or find us venues in central locations at little to no cost.

Then came the sponsors – our headline sponsor Knight Frank, supporting for the fourth year, as well as regional sponsors Henry Boot Developments, Mansford, Morgan Sindall, Prologis, and TFT.

The generosity doesn’t stop there!

Crown Workspace provided our custom-made branded SleepOut cardboard boxes for free (all of which, you’ll be pleased to know, were reused again after the event), while Hunter Ops provided all our beautiful – and fully recyclable – signage. Even Yorkshire Tea pitched in with some teabags for our virtual SleepOut from Home team.

Thanks to their fantastic support, all funds raised by the SleepOut participants will go directly to supporting young people.

There were 817 participants in total.

That’s 817 property professionals committed to spending one night outside sleeping in the cold, rallying their colleagues, friends and family together to support them.

10,562 donations were made – totalling over £500,000 (and counting) raised to help our brilliant charity partners keep doing their inspiring work where it’s needed most in our local communities. 

The most powerful moments on the night came when we heard first hand from our charity partners – Depaul, WomenCentre, YMCA Trinity, St Basils, and East Street Mews.

Hearing about the young people that these charities are supporting across the UK helped everyone to understand the impact their commitment in spending a night in the cold would truly make.

This is why I love the SleepOut.

When I’m awake and shivering at 3am, scrolling through the news on my phone and reading about so many problems in the world, I can look up, and see hundreds of people sleeping outside in cardboard boxes, and uniting across the UK, with one aim – to raise as much money as possible for young people experiencing homelessness.

I can remember how much good there is across our network of brilliant supporters.

So today I’m telling you about them all. Shouting out thanks to all those who rolled out their sleeping bags or who made a donation. Collectively you made the LandAid SleepOut 2022 our most successful event ever.

It’s a privilege to be part of such an extraordinary team. I already can’t wait until next year’s event!

See you there?

Keep an eye on all our events here