Arc's Virtual Sleep Out

On Friday 19^th June, we held our first ever virtual sleep out!

Normally our sleep outs would take place in a car park and we’d all join together for a night under the stars. However, with the current restrictions in place, we were unable to do this. Instead, we decided to run the event virtually so we could continue to raise the funds, awareness and create the community spirit that the sleep out brings each year. We encouraged participants to spend a night away from their beds and ‘sleep out at home’, in their gardens, sheds, garages or other alternative spaces.

To keep our fantastic participants entertained during the evening, we ran a live stream with music from Evie Cosgrove and Wille Edwards, poetry from Graeme Ryan, storytelling from Alexandra Simson as well as a thank you video created by our staff and clients.

The event went better than we could have imagined, despite the wet weather! We had an incredible 138 participants sleeping out over 67 households – the most participants the sleep out has ever had! All set up different ‘sleeping arrangements’, under tarpaulins, hidden away in sheds and even sheltering under a ping-pong table! We were even joined by a few international students of a Taunton based school, which meant we had ‘sleepers’ in Kenya, France and Russia!

As well as giving up their beds for the night, the participants worked hard to raise funds for Arc and we are delighted to announce that we have raised an incredible £14088 so far to help support our services.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part, performed and contributed in some way.

Below you'll find some photos of our evening, but please visit our Facebook photo album to view them all by clicking here. 


The Taylor family set up camp in their back garden
A great tarpaulin set up from sleeper Annie! 

The ping pong table shelter we mentioned!
  
We had lots of dogs sleeping out too, keeping our sleepers company, and keeping them warm too!