Boy, 8, from Garstang plans to 'sleep rough' for a night to raise money for homeless charity Shelter

An eight-year-old boy is planning to 'sleep rough' to learn about homelessness.

Fox Laverty, aged 8, from Garstang, planned the ‘night on the streets’ when he saw a man sleeping outside Booths and questioned why he was without a home.

The St Thomas primary student felt it was unfair that he had a nice warm bed to go back to and the man he saw did not, leading Fox to want to raise awareness for people in poverty.

Fox and his dad, Brian Laverty, will sleep out on the streets for 24 hours, with no tent or camping gear but their sleeping bags, to raise money for the homeless charity Shelter.

Fox said: “Homeless people don’t have the choice to have a tent, they just have to sit there. We have everything, so we can have a tent but they can’t. So if we are going to do it like them then we can’t have a tent.”

Explaining how the idea to sleep on the streets came about, Brian said: “Fox saw someone outside Booths and he thought it’s not very fair that they don’t have as much as we have. So he said can we sleep on the streets and be homeless for 24 hours.

"We’re very forunate we are only doing it for 24 hours, we know we can come back to our home, warmth and shelter. While people on the streets don’t have that luxury. Me and Fox will do it for 24 hours and hopefully help as many people as possible.”

A date hasn’t been set for the sleepout yet as the couple is still deciding on where they will stay. However donations for ‘The Homeless Movement’ are being taken through this link.

Victoria, Fox’s mum, said: “It’s a really different thing from camping out in the back garden, we’re thinking about are they going to be okay, who will be around, what will happen? Garstang is a very small, safe market town, but it really does make you think about people being out there on their own, with not a lot of resources. I am concerned about them but I’m hoping it will be an experience Fox will remember for a long time.”