"WE'RE STAYING UP!" for Centrepoint's Stay:Up Challenge 2020

We’ve been working from home for what seems like years now, but that doesn’t mean our charity and community initiatives have been put on hold. Since the start of the year, we’ve planted trees, launched Shop on the Tyne, raised almost £500 for BBC Big Night In, helped Centrepoint with vital funds for their centres around Easter and are about to embark – as a team – on the Centrepoint Stay:Up Challenge 2020!

Whilst working from home can be a bit of a drag sometimes, there’s one key privilege in there: actually having a home. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on individuals and businesses, sure, but homelessness is very much still a massive problem in the UK.

Charities like Centrepoint are working above and beyond to get young people off the streets and into safe accommodation, as well as providing support with healthcare and learning to help young people affected by homelessness to move on.

What’s the Stay:Up Challenge 2020?

Quite simply, staying up for 12 hours to try and raise vital funds for Centrepoint! On Thursday, 8th October at 8pm, the Evolved Search team will be setting up camp in our individual homes with each other for company via Zoom, to raise as much as we can for this important cause.

We’ll be hosting games, quizzes, Netflix marathons and generally motivating each other to stay awake for 12 whole hours.

This is nothing in comparison to the struggle of young people on the streets today, but if a little sleep deprivation on our part can help raise awareness and funds for Centrepoint, particularly during a time of increased lockdown measures in the UK when there’s very little else you can do than stay home, it’ll be very much worth it.

The goal is for us to each raise £100 and in turn, Evolved Search will match the donation, meaning each member of the team getting involved with the Stay:Up Challenge 2020 will be raising £200 per head!

Lauren Blagdon, Paid Marketing Manager at Evolved Search said: “The idea is that we stay up and try to experience just a little bit of what it’s like for young adults that are homeless and either sleeping rough or sofa surfing and trying to keep a job. Let’s hope our clients don’t mind us having a late night!”

For more information on the Stay:Up campaign and to sign up, visit the dedicated website.

If you’d like to donate to our team’s efforts, head on over to our JustGiving page. We’d be really grateful for anything you can spare to donate and it’ll certainly keep our team motivated in the small hours.

Best of luck to everyone participating in the Stay:Up Challenge 2020 to help tackle youth homelessness!