At Versantus, our commitment lies in creating a positive impact within our community. We recently participated in the CEO Sleepout Oxford event, where our CEO, Nik Roberts, and Managing Director, Matt Gilbert, dedicated a night to sleeping outdoors, all in the pursuit of fundraising for the Oxfordshire Homeless Movement. Thanks to their dedication and the generosity of our friends, family, and clients, we raised over £2500 to help fight homelessness and poverty in Oxford.
What is CEO Sleepout?
Oxfordshire Homeless Movement (OHM) collaborated with CEO Sleepout to organise the Oxford Sleepout to raise money and awareness for homelessness in Oxfordshire. CEO Sleepout is a charitable organisation that gets business leaders to come together and sleep outside for a night to raise money for homelessness. They have hosted sleepout events throughout the United Kingdom, raising an impressive £3.6 million in support of over 100 charities dedicated to assisting individuals experiencing homelessness.
Versantus join the CEO Sleepout and Oxford Half Marathon
Nik and Matt spent the night of the 12th of October sleeping outside at Oxford University College sports ground, armed with a profusion of sleeping bags, tarpaulins, and bivvy bags kindly lent by colleagues and friends. These items were especially crucial on the night of the event as a yellow weather warning for heavy rain and strong winds came to life. As our CEO Nik described the sleepout the next morning “It was a great, eye opening, terrifying and upsetting experience”.
After two nights sleep at home, Nik Roberts and Matt Gilbert were out there again on Sunday the 15th of October running the Oxford Half Marathon in aid of the Oxfordshire Homeless Movement. They were joined for this scenic 13.1 mile route through historic Oxford by our Head of Projects Rose Robinson, and HR Director James Lloyd. You might have seen them run past in in our very “on brand” Versantus pink t-shirts.
Our achievement
We're thrilled to share that we not only reached our CEO Sleepout fundraising goal of £2,000, but we exceeded it! Nik and Matt asked friends, family, and clients to sponsor them and between them, they raised £2,336. With an additional £200 raised from the Oxford Half Marathon, our grand total for homelessness support for our local community is now a brilliant £2536.
How you can help
Every pound donated contributes to the fight against poverty and homelessness, and we're keeping our Sleepout fundraising page open for a little longer, hoping to increase our total even further.
If you'd like to help us continue our mission, you can contribute on our Just Giving page. Or you can simply like and share our posts about the campaign on social media.
In these tough times, it's more important than ever that we come together to support those in need. The funds we've raised will provide shelter and support to homeless people in Oxford. Together, we can make a positive impact on their lives and work towards a brighter future for our community.
Thank you
We strive to live by our company values here at Versantus, and Nik and Matt have really walked the talk of our values of "collaboration" and "doing good" in taking part in the CEO Sleepout.
We want to thank everyone who has collaborated with us to make this such a success, including everyone who donated so generously, our friends and colleagues who lent equipment, and the team at CEO Sleepout who organised the event. Your contributions and support are making a real difference, and together, we can continue to fight poverty and homelessness.
Join us in making changing lives by supporting the Oxfordshire Homeless Movement.