Scotland’s National Stadium is to play host to an unusual fundraising initiative to raise money and awareness of homelessness in Scotland.
The Hampden Snore event will take place on the 30th of September with participants spending the night sleeping trackside to support the work of The Bethany Christian Trust and Street Soccer Scotland.
Participants in a SleepOut are expected to spend the night outside using warm clothing, a sleeping bag, and possibly cardboard as a shelter. Former Scotland Manager Craig Brown is participating in the event.
In 2015/16 there were 618 homeless applications in the Scottish Borders, a figure which after falling significantly has sadly remained steady for the past 5 years.
Local MSP John Lamont said: “This is a great idea and one which I’m sure will raise a considerable amount money and awareness of homelessness in Scotland.
“While the number of homeless applications has come down significantly, they have remained stubbornly static over the past few years. There is also a real concern that the real figures may be higher because people sleeping rough do not appear on the official statistics.”
“In order to help people further, we must target the root causes of homelessness, which can often be drug, alcohol or health related.”
Chris Gordon from Bethany Christian Trust said: “Last year Bethany supported over 7000 people living in some of the most deprived areas in Scotland. Increasingly we are working with families who are experiencing periods of crisis and by supporting them we can reduce the potential of family breakdown, one of the main causes of homelessness.”
Ally Dawson from Street Soccer Scotland said: “We know from our work across Scotland that football has such a massive force for change. Every week we work with men and women dealing with difficult circumstances including homelessness, physical and mental health issues and addiction attend our programmes and the positive outcomes have a big impact on their lives. We hope football fans will embrace this fun but serious initiative.”