A TEESDALE chef swapped his cosy bed for a breezy pavement for three nights last week as part of a challenge to raise £1,000 for the Royal British Legion.
Mark Mendelssohn, from Middleton-in-Teesdale, took part in the Great Tommy Sleep Out challenge to raise awareness and funds to support homeless veterans.
He said: “My dad and brother-in-law were in the Army and I’ve had lots of friends in the military. There are 250,000 homeless in the UK and at one point 20 per cent of them were veterans.
“We are training people to do a job that we don’t want to do and then when it’s finished just say ‘off you go’. They are being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice and most will have seen some awful things.
For them to not be looked after afterwards, it’s just not right.
“A lot of people think the Royal British Legion is just somewhere old boys go for a drink. It’s not, they have helped thousands of former military personnel who have struggled to cope with what they have been through and I wanted to do something to help.”
From 11pm to 7am las Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Mr Mendelssohn crawled into his make-shift cardboard box bed outside the village’s Co-op store and attempted to sleep. He added: “It was awful. The first night I was just so cold I couldn’t really sleep. If it wasn’t for the support, I’ve had in the village I think I might have given up. Everyone has been fantastic.”
As well as encouraging people to make donations through the Royal British Legion’s Great Tommy Sleep Out website, collection buckets were placed in the Co-op and Teesdale Hotel, where he works. Mr Mendelssohn said: “Tom Ridley at the Co-op has been really supportive and if only one bloke gets a roof over his head, I would do it for a month.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like for those living on the street. I was almost crying it was so cold and I’m in a position that I have got a house I can go back to, get a hot shower and get warm.”
Money raised from The Great Tommy Sleep Out helps to support the UK’s most vulnerable veterans by allowing RBL to provide safe homes and support they need to get back on their feet.
The online fundraiser will run until the end of the month and anyone wishing to donate can visit https://bit.ly/3tNBDJI.
