The Lord Mayor’s Appeal and Pret A Manger’s charity, The Pret Foundation, have raised over £100,000 at the second annual Lady Mayoress’s Sleep Out to help tackle homelessness . Taking place at Guildhall Yard overnight last Thursday (16th March) and joined by Lady Mayoress Felicity Lyons and Lord Mayor Alderman Nicholas Lyons, the charity fundraising event saw participants to ditch their warm beds for the night to raise funds for thousands of Londoners sleeping rough every night.
115 brave souls rolled out their sleeping bags and braced themselves against the rain to raise awareness for those experiencing homelessness. Kicking off at 9pm with a hot drink, participants collected their cardboard and found a spot in the City’s Guildhall Yard. The crowd heard live speeches from the the Lady Mayoress Felicity Lyons, Lord Mayor Alderman Nicholas Lyons, and CEO of Pret A Manger and trustee of The Pret Foundation, Pano Christou.
The Lady Mayoress Felicity Lyons thanked everyone for their fundraising efforts and for giving up their warm beds for the evening to get a small insight into what is a ‘reality for many Londoners’. She also reminded people that ‘London had the biggest rise of rough sleepers in 2022, with over 850 people sleeping rough on any given night last year’. Noting that International Women’s Day took place this month, she also pointed out that ‘experiences of violence and abuse are near universal for women sleeping rough – the average age of death for a woman experiencing homelessness is just 43.’
The next morning, Pret donated a breakfast of rolls, porridge, tea and coffee, and fresh pastries for participants. Pret’s charity The Pret Foundation will receive 50% of the donations to support their work tackling homelessness. They exist to help tackle hunger, poverty and homelessness in communities local to Pret shops around the world. The charity donates Pret’s unsold freshly made food at the end of every day to people who need it most, offering financial support to grassroots charities and helping to break the cycle of homelessness by providing training and employment opportunities at Pret.
Speaking after the Lord and Lady Mayoress, Pano Christou, CEO of Pret A Manger and trustee of The Pret Foundation, added that he had personally taken on many fundraising challenges to raise awareness and funds for the issue of homelessness. He thanked all the participants from ‘the Pret family for their fundraising efforts’. He finished by saying ‘every little bit helps and goes a long way, so please after tonight remind those who haven’t donated that there is still time!’.
Net profits from the event are being split 50:50 between The Lord Mayor’s Appeal and The Pret Foundation. The proceeds donated to The Lord Mayor’s Appeal will be put to use across its beneficiary charities and its four initiatives to help make A Better City For All that is inclusive, healthy, skilled and fair. According to Crisis UK, 45% of people experiencing homelessness have been diagnosed with a mental health issue which rises to 8 out of 10 people who are sleeping rough. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal will focus on those that tackle mental health issues such as partner charity MQ Mental Health Research, the UK’s leading mental health research charity and initiatives like This is Me, helping to end stigma around mental health in the workplace.
For those still interested in donating, the deadline for fundraising is Friday 14th April 2023, to find out more visit https://www.thelordmayorsappeal.org/events or donate now here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/felicity-lyons3
