TY students to sleep out for Focus Ireland

Transition Year (TY) students at St Patrick's School in Navan will get a first hand experience of what it is like to be homeless tonight (Tuesday).

Fifty-two students and eight teachers are participating in a sleep-out in aid of Focus Ireland tonight in the grounds of the school.

"The students will then attend classes tomorrow as usual, so they get to see what it is like to be homeless," says TY co-ordinator, Ciaran Murphy.We will be sleeping out for one night to shine a light on homelessness in Ireland and raise vital funds for Focus Ireland.

“In May, homelessness figures surpassed 10,500, the highest figure recorded since before the pandemic due to a lack of affordable, secure housing in Ireland. Right now, there are 1,423 families, including 3,137 children without a home. These families can spend up to two years in a one-bedroom room in an emergency accommodation situation, which has a significant impact on mental health, self-esteem, and child development," he said.

The students have set up an iDonate page and uploaded a video they created to social media, which has already been shared 5,000 times.

The video was produced by the students and the editing was mainly the work of Kirk Ramillo, while Andrew and John Gormley play the two main characters.

The money the students will raise by the sleep-out will be ring-fenced for Focus Ireland's work in Meath.

Mr Murphy points out that homelessness would be much worse without the work of Focus Ireland, who work with anyone who is homeless, in danger of becoming homeless or is in temporary accommodation.

Previous TY classes at St Pats have carried out similar fundraisers, but because of the pandemic, this is the first since 2019. Donations can be made to https://www.idonate.ie/team/stpatsnavantysleepout2022 to help support families and children without a home in Ireland right now.