Last Updated on April 1, 2024
March 17th is celebrated as World Sleep Day and places a heavy emphasis on the importance of proper sleep for one's health. However, how do you help those who don't even have a bed to call their own?
This is whereΒ charitable organisations such as St Mungo'sΒ come into the picture. With a mission statement toΒ end homelessness and rebuild lives, we believe it's now more important than ever to support humanitarian organisations and do what you can in order to help others.
So, we're going to make a plea for you to support St Mungo's and detail exactly how your support can save someone's life. We will also be leaving aΒ donation buttonΒ and leading by example by donating ourselves.
We all know that philanthropic organisations are made with the purpose ofΒ helping people. However, we wanted to go a bit more in-depth and explain exactly what the people at St Mungo's do so that you can better understand how supporting them helps those in need.
The outreach team at St Mungo'sΒ goes out during even the harshest of nights and finds people who are sleeping rough. They work with people to help them come off the streets, providing them with shelter and starting to pave the way towards their future.
And we really want to stress that latter part, as it means that this is a long-term investment and not a temporary band-aid. The good people at St Mungo's acknowledge that we all have different stories to tell and provide tailored support to each individual's needs in their recovery from homelessness.
From furthering their education to connecting people with job opportunities, people who have experienced homelessness are given the support they need in order to rebuild their lives for good.
Homelessness has always been an issue in the UK and around the world, however,Β the cost of living crisis has made even more families susceptible to ending up on the street. Plus, those who have already been helped to get back on their feet are once again at risk of losing the life they had painstakingly built up.
Furthermore, even justΒ the lack of sleep homeless people often experience is extremely detrimental to their health. Seeing how they don't have a comfortable bed to lie on, have no protection from the elements or other potential threats, and frequently sleep on an empty stomach β getting a full 8 hours of sleep seems almost impossible.
The ensuing sleep deprivation can then influence health complications such as heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure, and even depression. And this isn't even taking into account other hurdles homeless people have to tackle β such as malnutrition or extreme temperatures.
This is why we do not believe we're being hyperbolic when we say that your help is crucial right now. So, if you really want to celebrate World Sleep Day in a manner that can make a difference and provide rest to those who need it the most, we highly encourage you to support St Mungo's in any way that you can.
By this point, we hope that everyone understands whyΒ aiding organisations like St Mungo's is essential for making sure everyone has somewhere safe to sleep. Therefore, we'd like to detail a few ways in which you can throw your hat into the humanitarian ring and potentially be the reason a person has their last night on the streets.
Donate
Donating to St Mungo's is the quickest and most direct way you can help them help others. Even a donation of 25 pounds can help to make it someone's last night out on the street so we highly encourage you to give as much as you can and potentially change some lives.
However, there are also other ways to help St Mungo's out. So, if you're unable to donate but still want to take action, we suggest one of the following actions.
Volunteer
If you're over the age of 18 and live close to any of St Mungo's services, volunteering can be an excellent way to aid in their mission to end homelessness. As an organisation, they heavily rely on good-hearted volunteers and this could be your chance to learn more about the issues people face and contribute to their path of recovery.
So, check out their vacancy list and keep a close eye on their website and/or socials, as they update this list every first and third Friday of the month.
They also take part in other fundraising activities, with the Hackney Half Marathon coming up in May. So, keep them in mind as there are many ways you can support them if your heart is in the right place.
Spread awareness
There are two ways you can spread awareness that directly help the team at St Mungo's.
Use StreetLink
StreetLink is an app that you can use in order to help local organisations like St Mungo's to find and help people who are sleeping rough and are in need of aid. Note that this isn't an emergency hotline (so if the person is in need of medical aid call 999), but rather a way to help identify those in need of shelter.
So, have the link or app handy and make sure to make a referral when you see a person over the age of 18 sleeping rough. And do your best to be as descriptive as possible so that the kind-hearted outreach team can more easily find and help the individual. If you're having trouble describing the location, use what3words in order to pinpoint their location.
Share the message
As we've stated before, St Mungo's relies heavily on donations as well as volunteers. Therefore, the more people who know about their cause, the better off countless people living on the streets could be. The organisation also works with the UK Government to give advice on how to help people who are sleeping rough (which you can read about here), so giving them a microphone can have a monumental effect in the long run.
Therefore, get on social media, tell all of your friends, and do your part to spread a positive message. After all, World Sleep Day can't stay true to its name unless a good nightβs sleep is accessible to everyone.
Conclusion
Sleep is an essential human need, so everyone should have somewhere safe and warm to sleep. So, while we can't exactly snap our fingers and make it so, we highly encourage you to support the good team over at St Mungo's in any way that you can.
Spread the word
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