Over the last few years we have been privileged to help out at the night shelter organised by the YMCA in Crewe during the worst winter weather, when accommodation and hot food have been provided for people who would otherwise have been spending cold, wet nights on the streets. More importantly the short term measures have led to many of these vulnerable people finding a way off the streets and back into mainstream society. It has been brought home to us just how easy it is to slip through the net, lose everything and end up homeless. We heard many heartbreaking stories from people who were just did not understand how they had ended up in this situation.

So this is why we have responded to  YMCA Crewe's call to its local community to come together and sleep rough for one night in March to support local, homeless young people.Since launching in 2010, YMCA's 'Sleep Easy Week' has seen more than 7000 people sleep rough to raise more than £1.5million for local YMCA services that help young people rebuild their lives.This will be the first Sleep Easy night that YMCA Crewe has organised, and is aiming to raise up to £15,000. Money brought in will help YMCA Crewe continue to work with over 300 local people each year, providing temporary accommodation and support services which help residents build healthier lives, and work towards a thriving future developing the assets and skills required to be ready for work and training. We are supporting YMCA Crewe's Sleep Easy 2020 to play our part in helping reduce the risk of homelessness, and as a way of showing young people in our community who are homeless that the public do care about them.