Byte Night: Silicon.Comrades

Donations so far: £ 5,715.00

2008-10-04T09:42:00.007+01:00

As we get home after Byte Night, the total for donations reached £5715. Our donations web page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades will carry on receiving donations until 3 January 2009 so its not too late to sponsor us (or give us cash)!

We were fortunate:

It didn't rain.
There were hot drinks available through the night.
We were able to raise enough money, so far, to keep 19 young homeless people in supported lodgings for a month.
We found out about the great work that Action for Children does to support and speak out for the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK.

The City sleeps

2008-10-04T06:01:00.001+01:00

4 degrees Centigrade

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

5:23am First flight into Heathrow goes over

2008-10-04T05:33:00.000+01:00

Its staying dry but COLD

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

Steve

2008-10-04T00:41:00.002+01:00

Nic; wherever I lay my head

2008-10-03T23:47:00.001+01:00

That's my home...

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

Graham by our pitch for the night

2008-10-03T23:43:00.002+01:00

A (lack of ) room with a view

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

Sleeping with Jenny Agutter

2008-10-03T22:37:00.000+01:00

Tonight we are sleeping with Jenny Agutter (those of a certain age will remember the Railway Children). Just us and 350 others. Across the UK tonight Action for Children hope to raise £500,000.

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

The team at the start of Byte Night

2008-10-03T20:24:00.000+01:00

We are starting the evening with a Quiz at Ernst & Young to numb our brains before the numbing cold...

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

Richard in his nightcap

2008-10-03T20:00:00.002+01:00

One Day to go! One thousand pounds!

2008-10-02T16:52:00.000+01:00

The fantastic news with one day to go is a £1000 donation from Sybase!
We are also getting in a steady stream of last minute donations. Keep them coming!
This takes us to:
Fundraising target: £5,000.00
Donations so far: £ 4,655.00
Total donated online: £3,460.00
Amount raised offline: £1,195.00

Gift Aid plus supplement: £552.82

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

Storm Warning for Friday?

2008-10-01T13:37:00.002+01:00

Steve Ranger, Editor of Silicon.com, who is joining us on Friday. has kindly featured us again: http://management.silicon.com/itdirector/0,39024673,39295169,00.htm

As for the weather on Friday Byte Night I've just been told that Subtropical Storm Laura is heading our way so we will earn our sponsorship!

See our fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades

Through £3000...

2008-09-29T10:05:00.001+01:00

Our total of online donations with one week to go before ByteNight on Friday October 3 is £2960. However with over £200 of cash sponsorship we now have £3175. If you have sponsored us, by whatever method, thank you! If you still are thinking about it then either go to

http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades or you can just give us the cash. Please Gift Aid it if you can - so if you are giving cash then ask for the sponsorship form. Gift Aid adds to sponsorship by 28% if you are a UK taxpayer so it has already given us £458 of additional fundraising. (not quite as much as Bradford & Bingley got)

But every donation helps: just £5 pays for emergency overnight support for a young person living on the street.

You total sponsorship of our team so far could keep the doors of an emergency drop-in centre for young homeless people open for seven weeks. Thank you!

How your donations could help

2008-09-20T22:44:00.002+01:00

£5 could pay for emergency overnight support for a young person living on the street

£15 could provide a bath, three emergency meals, laundry, personal items and emergency medication for a young person living on the street

£25 could keep the doors of one of our youth homelessness projects open for one hour

£90 could help us find a home for a teenager who's got nowhere to live

£300 could keep a young homeless person in supported lodgings for a month

£500 could keep the doors of an emergency drop-in centre for young homeless people open for a week

£2,000 could pay for emergency overnight accommodation for up to 80 vulnerable young people

£5,000 could pay for a new kitchen in one of our leaving care and homelessness projects

£8,500 could pay for a part-time counselling support worker for young homeless people

£10,000 could furnish a small inter-dependent living house where a group of young homeless people can learn to live independently in a supportive environment

£55,000 could set up an emergency overnight accommodation project for young people sleeping rough

£500,000 could fund a new homelessness project for three years

Half way to our target - £2,500

2008-09-19T17:01:00.004+01:00

You are SO generous! £2,500

Half way to our target of £5,000

However we still have a big hill to climb to get to our target, with just two weeks remaining before Byte Night.

So If you havent donated yet please do it now, before you forget again

And if you have already donated - thank you- but please give our mutual friends who havent given yet a gentle prod from us! Email them a link to http://www.justgiving.com/siliconcomrades as a gentle hint.

If you arent happy with donating online you can always ask for the sponsorship form and give us the cash.

We reach a Grand!

2008-08-12T09:52:00.002+01:00

We have only had our sponsorship page open for four days and we have reached £1,000.00 in donations - and more with Gift Aid from UK Taxpayers.

Thanks to all that have donated so far for you generosity, and speed of opening your wallets!

Why are we doing this?

2008-08-07T16:01:00.002+01:00

As we told Silicon.com:

Benson said: "I am really pleased to be involved with the silicon.comrades and such a worthwhile cause. What we 'experience' is actually normal life for the unfortunates that Byte Night aims to help. I hope what we do, and the people we browbeat to support us, makes a difference, however small."

And Evans added: "I had known about Byte Night for a few years but had never got around to getting involved. Having taken the time now to find out more, this is a fantastic opportunity for the whole IT sector to support those most vulnerable teenagers. NCH can help people, the same age as my kids, who have fallen through other support networks and stop them getting into the downward cycle from sleeping rough."

The team, all members of silicon.com's CIO Jury, have also set up a page where silicon.com readers can contribute to this fantastically good cause.

Steel said: "As a public sector CIO and, now, the president of Socitm I'm used to thinking about how ICT can be used to promote improved service accessibility through digital inclusion, but Byte Night provides a special focus that's about the really hard to reach, most vulnerable people in our society, who happen also to be a key part of its future. I'm proud to represent public sector ICT in such a worthwhile cause. "

How did we get into this?

2008-08-04T01:44:00.000+01:00

Like many things in IT it just started with an email

Which led to a conference call...

And before we knew it we were committed.

The email was from Steve Ranger, editor of the IT News website Silicon.com asking if we would like to join a charity sleepout.

The call told us more on the work of NCH , now Action For Children, the valuable work they do, and how Byte Night was the charities major corporate fundraising event.

Did we want to get a team of four or five? And then there were four of us....