Byte Night helps turn young Welsh lives around

Former homeless Welsh teenager urges Welsh businesses to sleep out for Action for Children

A young Welsh woman who turned her life around with help from Action for Children’s youth support team in Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) has urged Welsh businesses to sleep out on October 7^th as part of the UK’s largest sponsored sleep-out.

Jess was homeless for two years in the Aberdare area after family issues drove her to the streets before being referred to Action for Children.  The RCT youth support team helped her with accommodation, liaising with housing providers to help her gain and maintain a tenancy.  They also helped her with life skills to support her the transition from child to young adult.

Jess, 19, from Aberdare said:  “Byte Night helps support projects like the RCT youth support team and the help, guidance and support they’ve given me has taken me from the streets into my own flat so I can live an independent life in a warm place of my own.  I don’t know what would’ve happened to me otherwise, it’s that simple.”

Diane Evans, young persons’ practitioner at the RCT project added:  “It’s been a pleasure working with her and all the young people we support.  It was great to see her, Nathan and Roxanne meet the board and businesses at the launch event earlier in the year.  It’s so important that Byte Night supporters see where their money goes and the genuine difference it make to young lives.”

With 100 people from Welsh businesses set to sleep outside the Principality Stadium in a bid to raise £60,000, Jess added:  “Thankfully the RCT youth support team helped me with so much including finding accommodation and I’m now settled in my own place and getting my life back on track.  I hope as many people get involved as possible and enjoy their night as well as raising as much money as they can.  The money genuinely helps those, like me, who needed it most in our communities.”

If you would like to find out more about Byte Night, please visit bytenight.org.uk or contact the Byte Night team on bytenight@actionforchildren.org.uk

Since launching in 1998, national fundraiser Byte Night has raised more than £8 million in support Action for Children’s work with disadvantaged children, young people and families. As the country’s largest sponsored sleep out, more than 1,200 people across the UK bedded down last year at simultaneous sleep-outs in Bristol, London, Manchester, Belfast, Cambridge, Reading, Birmingham and Edinburgh, raising over £1.1m. Organisers are promising Byte Night 2016 will be even bigger this year with the sleep-outs taking place in Cardiff and Newcastle.