Leave behind your luxuries for one night and join us to sleep on the streets of Doncaster to raise vital funds for Doncaster YMCA.

Join us at the Sleep Easy Information Evening to find out more information about the event, register and learn something you didn’t know about your local YMCA.

The Information Evening will take place at Doncaster YMCA Monday 7th November, 2011 at 6.30pm. We will show video clips from past events, tell you more about the work of the YMCA and gear participants up for the event itself.

We will be sleeping rough on Saturday 28th January 2012 at St Peter-In-Chains. Online registration is now open. Follow the links on the website to register.

Call Craig on 01302 342148 Extension 35, or email craig.tobin@doncasterymca.org.uk.

Those who took part in Sleep Easy, or who would like to join this year, will be pleased to know that we have a date for your diary!

Next year’s Doncaster Sleep Easy will be taking place on Saturday 28th January 2012, one of the coldest nights of the year.

This is a great opportunity to take part in something that will make a real difference to the lives of young people in Doncaster.

For more info, including registration details, please click here

We’re celebrating the award of a grant of £40,000 from Crisis to enable us to work more closely with the town’s landlords and help young homeless people to find and sustain good quality accommodation from private landlords.

The grant is part of Crisis funding awards of £2 million for 29 new projects helping single homeless people to find new homes and lasting independence.

Our project will target young people between the ages of 18 and 25 who struggle to find accommodation, including those living in hostels and temporary accommodation. Workers will assist the participants to overcome financial barriers to renting and match them with landlords. The ultimate aim is long-lasting independence for young people in homes they can call their own.

Those taking part will receive support with developing independent living skills, and will have access to help with the costs of taking on a new tenancy. We’re now recruiting a specialist worker to take the programme forward, and we expect to have things up and running by April.

Our Chief Executive, Louise Roffey, commented “This is a great boost for the YMCA’s work with young homeless people. The programme will enable us to help more young people with overcoming the barriers they encounter when moving into their own place. We’ll be able to use the funds to provide real, practical help where it’s most needed.”

You’ll find more info about the project in the “Accommodation” section above.

DMBC Councillor Andrea Milner has signed up for our Sleep Easy event, scheduled for Saturday 29th January – one of the coldest nights of the year.

Councillor Milner, Doncaster Council’s Cabinet Member for the Children and Young People’s Service, Equalities and Cohesion, said

“It’s a pleasure for me to support the Sleep Easy event as I’m so passionate about representing young people in Doncaster, particularly those who are vulnerable and sometimes find themselves not having a home for all sorts of reasons.

“The work and resources provided by Doncaster YMCA is a great example of a local service making a real difference to young people who may need help and support from time to time.”

January 30th 2010

It was on a cold winter’s night that a brave group of people decided to sacrifice their warm, cosy beds and take on the Sleep Easy Challenge. This involved spending a night out in the cold with only our sleeping bags, and the cardboard provided, for warmth. According to Google, the temperatures that night reached a bone chilling -7 degrees celsius. It wasn’t as cold as Moscow, but it was cold enough!

Various activities were conducted prior to us bedding down at midnight. These included shelter building, a small treasure hunt with a twist, and some giant size games of Dominoes, Noughts and Crosses and Connect 4.

All participants really got involved in the activities and there was a great sense of team spirit. It was fantastic to see that everyone survived until breakfast at 6am!

The aim of Sleep Easy was to raise money and awareness to help combat youth homelessness in Doncaster.

A big thank you to everyone who got involved with the event; whether is was through a donation, through sleeping out or through helping with planning and organising.

We are very happy with this event as, once the Gift Aid has been processed, we expect the final total for money raised to be over £2,500. Watch this space if you want to be a part of Sleep Easy 2011!