Nursery colleagues raise £3000 for Help the Homeless Glasgow

Nine colleagues at Lochview Nursery in Gartcosh ditched their mobile phones, electrics and food on Friday, April 28 in a bid to raise awareness of the struggles homeless individuals go through. 

Sleeping in the streets from 9pm until 7am, the group had nothing but water, sleeping bags, clothes on their backs and the hope to create a bit of money for those in need.

READ MORE: S Club 7: Hannah Spearritt quits after Paul Cattermole death

Kimberly Brady, head of centre at Lochview Children's Nursery, said: "When the nursery opened in 2008, Gartcosh was a small village and has grown extensively over recent years.

"The vast majority of the new house buildings in the village is private housing, making our local area more affluent.

"We've become more aware of a growing divide between our area and less affluent areas in and around Glasgow and want to raise awareness of this and to do something to help the community and people in need.

"I came into work as the nursery manager and discussed my idea with my staff team. They were very intrigued to carry out this experience and we started discussing this with the children within the nursery and how homeless people live.

"I know we can't help everyone, however, if we can help some people, then that means a lot to us."

Speaking on the night itself, Kimberly and workers Natalie Mulholland and Stephanie Copeland regarded the experience as eye-opening. 

Natalie said: "It was a really good experience.

"The worst part for me was the unexpected and being scared to go to sleep, so I can't imagine what homeless people go through sleeping rough in big cities.

"It was also horrible waking up in the morning, as it was ice cold and I had nothing to do but sit there. It really put into perspective how lucky we are."

While Stephanie added: "It was a very good experience, really put into perspective the way that homeless people live and feel.

"The weather was quite mild but started to get cold and breezy throughout the night. I couldn't imagine how difficult it would have been to sleep outside during the winter months."

As a result of the night, the group managed to raise a whopping £3000 which will be donated to Help the Homeless Glasgow.

The money will be utilised "in any way" to help the organisation continue their work, one of the uses Help the Homeless had in mind for the money was to use it to help sustain the costs of the outlays required to keep their unit going.

Alongside raising money, the group has also organised a large-scale donation of clothes and toiletries to hand over to the charity.

Kimberly said: "Our families and local community have also been donating clothing, jackets, food and toiletries for us to give to them (the charity).

"Our children have been involved in sorting the clothes and foods, making signs for these donation stations and will be visiting a local shop to buy essentials for the homeless people."

READ MORE: Queen’s Park Football Club helps mark Epilepsy Scotland milestone

Nursery director, Jim Agnew commented: "I am so proud of my team for carrying out this fundraising event. Their commitment and enthusiasm never fail to amaze me.

"As a long-standing community-based business we feel it is important to help support other local groups in our community.

"The Help the Homeless, sleep out event has been our biggest undertaken to date and is a very worthwhile cause."

To find out more about Lochview Nursery or to contact them, click HERE

You can get in contact with Help the Homeless Glasgow HERE