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7 brave NCFE colleagues swapped their home comforts for sleeping rough outdoors on Friday night to raise money for The Prince’s Trust.

Our fearless staff braved the cold October weather and slept overnight in the open air at Quorum Business Park in order to raise vital funds for, and awareness of, The Prince’s Trust. The sponsored sleep rough night was just one of the activities within a wider fundraising challenge, as NCFE’s Shine team are taking part in the Million Makers entrepreneurial fundraising challenge. The challenge requires teams to make £10,000 from an initial £1,500. All proceeds go straight to The Prince’s Trust charity.

Our team headed to their sleep rough spot around 8pm, and spent the next ten hours outdoors to experience the hardship young homeless people go through. We also had a young ambassador for The Prince’s Trust visit NCFE’s head office to tell us about how the charity has helped him make a fresh start in life.

The Prince’s Trust’s is “a youth charity that helps change young lives.” The charity supports unemployed young people between 13 and 30, often at risk of homelessness, mental health issues or exclusion, by giving them the “practical and financial support needed to stabilise their lives.” The charity has, to date, helped over 750,000 young people since 1976, and helps 100 more every day, while the Million Makers challenge has so far raised over £5 million since the scheme was set up in 2008.

NCFE’s Communications Leader, Lindsay Plumpton, said of the challenge: “We are delighted to be involved in Million Makers Challenge and it has so far been a great opportunity to develop our aspiring leaders, enhance team work and communication skills while also raising essential funds for charity.

We came up with the idea to hold a sponsored sleep out so that we could experience just some of the hardships that many unemployed young people might experience.”

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In addition to the successful sleep rough evening, which raised over £2000 for The Prince’s Trust, our entrepreneurial Shine team also created the CareerPlug, a 2GB USB wristband loaded with REED NCFE’s high quality employability resources, designed to help young people gain employment.

NCFE is a charitable organisation, and learners are at the heart of everything we do. The USB wristbands represent the core purposes of both NCFE and The Prince’s Trust. CareerPlugs are available at a £5 donation per item, and again all proceeds go to charity. If you’re interested in purchasing CareerPlugs for your learners, please email shinemillionmakers@ncfe.org.uk. We’re happy to negotiate price on bulk orders.