Islanders are expected to brave the cold weather tonight (22 November) and take part in the biggest Sleep Out to date.

150 people have signed up for the fundraising challenge this year, beating last year's figure of 140. 

These volunteers will spend the night in sleeping bags on the concrete floors of levels 11 and 12 of Pier Road car park. 

The effort is all to raise vital funds for Sanctuary Trust, which provides accommodation, counselling and outreach support to vulnerable men in Jersey who are at risk of homelessness. 

Tonight's effort is not to replicate the experience faced by those without a home, but to raise awareness of the fact that people in the island may have no other choice but to sleep rough. 

Sleep out participants 2023

Last year, the volunteers raised £35,000. 

Tim Ringsdore, the charity's CEO, is hoping to top this figure:

"Raising money is really important at the moment. as everyone is well aware its a very challenging time. (The) cost of living is still high and our costs continue to rise.

"It is absolutely critical that we get as much money as we can so that we can continue to provide the really important support from our staff to our residents."

Tim Ringsdore

Tim, who in 2025 plans to sleep rough for a week to raise awareness about the realities of homelessness, tells us what the money raised tonight will go towards: 

"We still find that we've got a waiting list of people wanting to come into our houses. We're supporting 30 men at any one time in our houses but we're also supporting around 35 - 40 people externally from our outreach programme.

"It's an ongoing process, we do some fantastic work and our team really do save lives."