Edinburgh bank workers raise £500,000 to help end homelessness

BANK workers in Edinburgh raised £500,000 for a charity drive to end homelessness.

Staff from Clydesdale Bank owners, CYBG, held a reception for Social Bite who arranged the Sleep In The Park event.

The mass sleepout in Edinburgh on December 9 aimed to raise funds to eradicate homelessness over the next five years.

David Duffy, CEO at CYBG, said: “Sleep In The Park was an event that no-one in CYBG will forget.

“It was our great pleasure to be involved in this campaign – the atmosphere, and camaraderie on the night was something very special.

“We also couldn’t have predicted just how cold it would be, but that just brought home the reality facing the thousands of people who sleep out on the streets every night, especially given the recent weather.

“It’s not acceptable, and more needs to be done to tackle the issue.”

CYBG pledged to raise £500,000 and staff from across the UK were involved in the fundraising,

Teams hosted raffles, bake sales, quiz nights and sang carols to raise money and nearly 300 colleagues took part on the night itself.

Josh Littlejohn MBE, co-founder of Social Bite, said: “CYBG was unbelievably influential in helping us make such a success of Sleep In The Park.

“The level of participation from employees of the bank with around 300 taking part, as well as this exceptional commitment of £500K, has left me and our team truly humbled and incredibly grateful.”