£5000 raised in aid of homelessness

Nine members of John German Sales and Lettings take part in a charity sleep out, raising £5,000 in aid of homelessness

On the 21st November, a team from John German organised by Propertymark, slept out at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in London, as part of Centrepoint’s Sleep Out. The nine team members began fundraising before the event, and thanks to the generosity of colleagues, friends, family, suppliers and customers raised £5,000 for Centrepoint, a charity which supports 15,000 homeless young people a year. Furthermore, forming part of a collective of fellow agents and suppliers with Propertymark, a total of £62,000 was raised from the Sleep Out.

The issue and the solution

In 2017/18 more than 103,000 young people asked their local council for help because they were homeless or at risk of homelessness. Family breakdown, poor mental health, abuse and violence are some of the reasons young people become homeless.

Centrepoint offers practical on-the-ground support to homeless people age 16-25, focusing on providing a safe place to stay and the building blocks for an independent life. As the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity, they operate 60 services across the UK helping vulnerable young people with accommodation, health support and life skills to get them back into education, training and employment.

The charity is calling on people to change the story, take urgent action and end youth homelessness for good. Centrepoint’s annual Sleep Out events have been bringing people together to support this cause and raise vital money to fund their work.

Taking part in the Sleep Out

James Morgan, Owner Director, John German, who a took part in the event comments “When Martyn Baum, Director of John German in Loughborough and East Leake approached me to ask for us to take part in the Sleep Out for Centrepoint with Propertymark, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Being property agents, I feel a real affinity towards this cause. Homelessness is a big issue in the UK, the more we can do to make a change the better.”

With this in mind, a team from John German including James and Martyn, along with Katy Storer, Aidan Reed, Sarah Hill, Lucy Beck, Charlie Lockhart and Josie Walker signed up to take part in the event and started fundraising straightaway.

Katy Storer, Marketing Manager, John German, who also took part in the event commented “We made fundraising a company wide effort by getting 60 plus staff members involved from all 10 branches, hosting two mini-fundraising events (best dressed branch for Halloween and a cake sale) and a charity auction at our Lettings Landlord seminar. Thanks to the generosity of friends, family, clients and suppliers, we raised an astonishing £5000 plus gift aid. The Sleep Out itself, albeit very cold and wet, was fantastic, extremely well-organised and put together. A highlight for me, was hearing from those who have experienced homelessness and the how Centrepoint helped turn their lives around. The work Centrepoint do is vital in making a change to homelessness in the UK.”

James concludes “The support we received has been fantastic. Not only did everyone from John German get behind us, so did all our friends and family, customers and suppliers. Thank you, the generosity is going to make a huge difference to the work Centrepoint carries out.”

Although the event is over, John German are hoping to raise further funds for Centrepoint. To show your support, donations can still be made via John German’s Just Giving campaign page: DONATE

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