JAGUAR LAND ROVER EMPLOYEES SLEEP ROUGH SO OTHERS DON'T HAVE TO RAISING £4000 FOR CHARITY

On Friday night, as many of us were tucked in to our nice warm beds for the evening, a team of 13 from the Engine Manufacturing Centre braved the cold as they slept rough for a night raising thousands of pounds for a homeless charity.

The team took part in the YMCA’s 'Sleep Easy' event where around 100 others from across the Midlands got together to spend a night on the streets, in turn raising thousands of pounds in sponsorship money for the charity.

The charity, YMCA Black Country Group, work tirelessly all year round to prevent youth homelessness in the Black Country.

The team from Jaguar Land Rover were in good spirits throughout the night. On arrival, they spent time building their boxes and even decorating them. 

Some of our team spent time playing football with some of the children that were taking part in the event. Refreshments were available all night and after a bite to eat, most of our team from the engine plant attempted to bed down at around 1am to try and get some sleep in their cardboard boxes.

But as the cold set in, so did reality and for most of them, trying to sleep in freezing conditions on the cold, hard floor was seemingly impossible.

Dan Tranter (PTO Systems Design leader) was one that struggled to sleep during the night. He said: “It was an eye-opening experience, I’m really glad that I did it to try and understand what just one night might be like for someone on the streets.

"The thing that surprised the most was just how uncomfortable sleeping on the floor was. I certainly appreciated my bed the following night.”

They raised a whopping £4,000 was raised (and still counting).

Operations Director from the Engine Manufacturing Centre, Kevin Woods, was thrilled to take part in the event and at the end of the sleep out congratulated everyone saying: “It was tough but an enjoyable experience, it really makes you appreciate home comforts and how lucky and fortunate we are.

"The event also highlighted how important it is to help others who are less fortunate. Well done to team Jaguar Land Rover for taking part and to everyone that donated to this hugely important cause.”

Well done to: Kleber Bonitese, Jas Sahota, Stevie Jones, Dilly Ghuman, Liam Spalding, Craig Osman, Kevin Wood, Beverley Momenabadi, Patrick Bakoukissa, Paul Bates, David Butwell, Harps Chand and Paul Jones who all took part in the event.

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