Young people at All Saints' East Cowton, (pop.600) are celebrating after raising more than £1400 for the Church Urban Fund in a charity sleep out.
Despite being from a small North Yorkshire village, the 20 young people, aged 10-15 plus four leaders, all members of All Saints Church Youth Group, have managed to raise the seventh highest sleep out challenge total for the Church Urban Fund in the country.
Revd Rachel Stowe, a retired minister, said, “They are quite rightly cock-a-hoop about it and so are we all at the thought that our small insignificant patch of the C of E can beat the mighty ecclesiastical Trojans!”
To add to the sleep out challenge, leader Steve Cook taught the youngsters to build their own make-shift shelters out of cardboard boxes, polythene sheets and blankets (pictured right). “The results”, he says, “were very interesting and wouldn’t have kept the kids very warm or dry! However this led to a very interesting discussion and we decided to see what we could do to help.”
The sleep out itself took place in the church and annexe and to start the night, and raise more funds, the Youth Group started with a ‘Food and Film’ evening.
“So far”, says Steve, “ for the Church Urban Fund we have raised £1,442 and we still have some more money to come in. After speaking to the Church Urban Fund we are the 7th highest fund raisers in the UK which is a great achievement for such a small village and youth group.
If you want to add to the total you can go to the giving page at https://adventsleepout.everydayhero.com/uk/east-cowton-yg#/