no, didn't think so! There are however some young folks out there night after night who don't have a choice. There's an enormous chasm of a gap in the care and support provided to kids once they leave the care system, which results in many ending up on the streets with all of the asociated problems of such a hazardous life.
That's where this ace UK charity - Action for Children come in. They support kids in many ways, including highlighting the plight of neglected kids by projecting some pretty shameful stats onto Landmarks all over the UK. So what does this have to do with 1E? Well Action for Children is just one of the charities that gets our support, and every year since 1998 there has been a fairly unique fundraising event in London and other UK cities which is aimed purely at the cosseted world of us IT types. It's called Byte Night <cringe>, and here's how it works:
About Action for Children and Byte Night
Since the beginning, Byte Night has proved to be a huge success not only in terms of raising extremely valuable funds to support young people leaving the care system but also by raising awareness of Action for Children and its work in the IT industry. The benefit of the networking for the IT community associated with Byte Night is an added bonus for all those involved. In 1998 25 people slept out, raising around £25,000 last year 220 people slept out raising £283,000. Year on year, the number of sleepers and funds raised thanks to your support grows!
1E will be sending a team out into the chilly October London night to stay out for this great cause. The team name is the S1EEPERS (wow our marketing team excelled themselves this time!) and you can donate to this great cause here - http://www.justgiving.com/S1EEPERS
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Action for Children, the children's charity will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you. (If you’re not a UK taxpayer, you can still sponsor us so please don’t let this stop you)
More information about Action for Children can be found here: http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/
More about IT industry sleepout, Byte Night can be found here – http://www.bytenight.org.uk/
BTW:Although I won't be in London on Byte Night, I will be showing solidarity with the cause by sleeping under a hedge in a field somewhere in Northern England - care to join me? We could tip cows and toast marshmallows!
Read the complete post at http://www.1e.com/bizblog/post/2010/05/21/Fancy-sleeping-out-on-the-streets-of-London.aspx