8S Charity Sleep Out for Street Pastors, Yeovil

Exhausted. Grumpy. Bones aching. Cold. Glass half empty emotions perhaps, but exactly what we all experienced as we tried to imagine what it must be like to sleep “rough” for a night and gain an understanding of what life must be like for a homeless person albeit fleetingly.

The 8S children agreed to raise money for the Street Pastors charity organisation this term, by sleeping on cardboard boxes outside the Fitzjames building, for a night.

The evening kicked off with talks from Mr Edwards and Mrs Bartlett, who led discussions into the life, the struggles and the challenges facing members of our community, just down the road in Yeovil. The children engaged brilliantly in the talks and displayed much-needed empathy and understanding. After a BBQ supper, we headed off for an evening walk around Cadbury Hill before heading back to our cardboard mattresses. Sleep was intermittent but the soft rainfall and a visit from Rocky, the Jenkins’ cat, helped us get through the night. The children survived the night, and we hope, woke with a more acute understanding of the plight experienced by hundreds of thousands of Britons every night, on the streets; and importantly, with a deepened desire to help and serve our community and those less fortunate.

Mr Schreiber

Click here to see all the photographs on Flickr