Mansfield Town’s commercial manager Paul Nyland will be joined by local business directors on the Stags Sleep Out 2016.
Paul will be joined by Andy Plant from Acorn Signs, Steve Devine-Bradbury (Riley & Co), Malk Hall (Hall-Fast), Mark Burton (Ulyett Landscapes) and Paul Andrews and Connor Doran of Mansfield Manor on a night of freezing temperatures inside One Call Stadium on Friday 29 January.
The local businessmen will be ‘sleeping rough’ inside One Call Stadium to raise awareness of homelessness and will be raising money for Joint Forces Alliance, a charity committed to helping homeless military veterans and local people.
Jason Rathbone, founder of the charity said: “We’re a volunteer-lead organisation and we need the donations; furniture and food is all donated by the local community and any money raised goes towards fuel to put in our van, volunteer costs, various types of insurance and our overheads.
“We try to help everyone in their time of need, so we supply beds, water and anything they need to get ‘back on their feet’. We really ‘kit people out’; so we’ll give them four sets of knives, forks, bowls, saucers and other things like cleaning materials.”
Jason continued: “We wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t the need for it. We operate only on donations and we put in 300 volunteer hours a week.
“We want to bring back community spirit of Mansfield by facilitating the donations, we’re a good middle man. We’re the only food bank in the country which take in ‘walk-ins’, as long as they bring their evidence and they're not exploiting their benefits, we’ll supply them with two weeks’ worth of food and the promise of another four weeks.”
The charity will split the money raised between their veterans’ service, which helps homeless veterans, and their community support project which provides food parcels for individuals and families across the area from their food bank based on White Hart Street in Mansfield.
After completing the Sleep Out last year, Paul Nyland is pleased to have linked up with Joint Forces Alliance for this year’s event: “We’re really looking forward to this year’s Sleep Out and hopefully we’ll raise enough money to support Joint Forces Alliance and the excellent work they do, both for the military veterans and the local community.
“Not knowing that we had a food bank in such close proximity to One Call Stadium and the importance of helping the community in their time of need was a big factor in us agreeing to the challenge.
“On the night of the event, we’re going to have a party in the Sandy Pate Sports Bar to raise as much money as we can for the charity. Everybody is welcome but all we ask is that every attendee brings a tin of non-perishable food to donate to Joint Forces Alliance.”
The event in the Sandy Pate Sports Bar starts at 8pm on Friday 29 January and will include a disco, karaoke and a raffle. Entry will be free for all.
Last year’s Sleep Out raised £2,317.36 and the group are looking to beat that figure this year. Their fundraising campaign has already started and you can donate
here.
To view updates on the night of the Stags Sleep Out, like their
Facebook page.