With hundreds of new homeless people on the streets of London, the Coronavirus pandemic has pushed the homelessness crisis to unprecedented levels. Homeless people are doubly hit; threatened by the disease itself and less able to secure the food, clothing and support they so desperately need.

In recent weeks, we have been looking at wealth and poverty in our Geography chapter, including the problem of homelessness. As part of this work, CFBL had been planning a sleep rough event to be held at school, sleeping in the sheltered playground area complete with a bowl of soup generously provided by the Simon Community, a local charity that has been helping the homeless since the 1960’s.

This is no longer possible but has not weakened our determination to make it happen. On the contrary, the urgency to show solidarity and support a worthwhile cause is even more acute. One of the biggest issues facing homeless people at the moment is malnutrition. The money we raise will fund a healthy eating programme providing The Simon community with fresh fruits and juices. Our target is £500 and we are hoping each student will be able to fundraise between £5-10 each. 

Instead of spending the night at school, we’re encouraging pupils to ‘bed’ down in their  gardens or kitchen (or indeed anywhere outside a bed!). Obviously, safety is the first priority so do choose your location with that in mind. We hope this will be a step towards understanding the difficulties faced by homeless people but in a fun and novel way. Thank you for your support and I hope to see as many of you as possible on Friday 19th of June for our good night zoom at 9.30pm! 

Isabelle Killick

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