On Friday the 8th April 10 members of the Southern Sheeting team will be sleeping outside as part of the Crawley Open House Big Sleepout event.

Its fair to say the team will only get a small glimpse of the discomfort and disorientation that too many have to suffer EVERY night of the year while they raise vital funds for Crawley Open House, who offer accommodation, food and support to those experiencing homelessness locally.

KEY FACTS ABOUT CRAWLEY OPEN HOUSE AND THEIR WORK LOCALLY

• Every night the high-support hostel at Crawley Open House is home for 24 people (usually 26 but 2 beds have had to be decommissioned currently for COVID-19
  social distancing requirements). Last night they housed 16 men, 8 women and 2 dogs.
• People can become homeless for all sorts of reasons – it could happen to any one of
  us, our friends or to one of our family. There need to be places like Crawley Open House to catch those who find themselves homeless and in crisis, before they fall too far.
• The average length of stay in the hostel is 6-7 weeks. During that time staff work closely with residents and partner agencies to address some of the issues which made them homeless in the first place – maybe the debt, mental health issues, unemployment, trauma, addiction, relationship crisis, physical health problems or lack of life skills, for example. They manage to resettle around 60% of them to somewhere more permanent and appropriate.

Even the smallest donation can make a difference to Crawley Open House, so please do donate if you can.

Thank you from all the team at Southern Sheeting.