Rovers Community Trust partners with homeless charity to offer ‘Sleep Where You Stand’ fundraising experience to support Bristol’s homeless this Winter.

Bristol Rovers Community Trust are delighted to announce the first ever Memorial Stadium Sleep Out, giving fans the opportunity to sleep outside overnight in Bristol’s famous Memorial Stadium and help raise funds for Caring in Bristol.

Caring in Bristol’s vision is of a city empowered to solve homelessness. Our mission is to work in imaginative and creative ways with people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, with the public, and with community partners to bring about lasting change in Bristol and beyond.

The Sleep Out is a charity event designed to give people an insight into the severity of sleeping conditions that many people in our city have to face not only on one night, but every night of the year. The event will take place between 8pm and 7am on Friday 6th March 2020 and included in the night will be a panel discussion titled ‘Can Football Tackle Homelessness?’.

Sleep Out participants will spend the night sleeping in stands within the Memorial Stadium and will be asked to bring along warm clothes, a sleeping bag and ground mat. The Community Trust will provide participants hot soup and roll in the evening, as well as a bacon butty in the morning. The football club has also kindly offered every participant a terrace ticket for our next home game against Sunderland on Tuesday 10th March, so participants really will be able to “sleep where they stand”.

Every participant will be asked to raise a minimum of £150 as well as paying a registration fee of £25. The event will sell out and we are limited to 120 spaces, so participants are asked to please register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Bristol Rovers Community Trust will be supporting the running of the event and Trust staff will be taking part in the Sleep Out. Community Trust CEO, Adam Tutton said, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Caring in Bristol on this year’s Memorial Stadium Sleep Out. As the football clubs official charity we look to help improve the lives of everyone within our great city and support those people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness”.

Ben Richardson Caring in Bristol Charity Director said, “Caring in Bristol’s vision is a city empowered to solve homelessness and we achieve that by partnering with organisations like the Rovers Community Trust. This Sleep Out will raise valuable money for our vital projects in the community and empower supporters and club fans to help the nearly 2300 people who are homeless in Bristol this winter.”

Antonia Cross Caring in Bristol Campaigns and Communications Manager said, “We’re excited to partner with the Rovers Community Trust as a way of starting conversations and inspiring action in our home city, the panel talk themed ‘Can Football Tackle Homelessness?’ will touch on mobilising fan bases, media attention on issues, team work, love for our communities and social inclusion and we think this is a great way of introducing people to the ways which Bristol can be the first major UK city to solve homelessness.”