MACS Sleep Out 2023

MACS Supporting Children and Young People (MACS) challenge you to sleep out to raise vital funds for MACS youth homelessness services.

MACS invite you, your friends and colleagues to join us for a group event at Banana Block in Belfast. Sleep Out is a fun evening, with entertainment from comedian Ciaran Bartlett and singer songwriter Joshua Burnside; bedtime yoga with Yoga Quarter , a drum circle with The Gathering Drum plus hot drinks and snacks courtesy of Bodga Bagels until 11pm.  Then you'll begin the challenge of sleeping out until 7am.

Sleep Out is not intended to replicate the experience of being homeless. It would be impossible to recreate the fear, loneliness and discomfort of not having a safe place to call home. Sleep Out does, however, provide a small glimpse into this reality. Spending a night away from your bed will likely make you realise how hard it is to go to work and manage your life the next day, even though you know you’re safe at Sleep Out; which is not always the case for homeless young people.

With the right opportunities and support, young people can build positive futures. Thank you for making a difference to young lives!

How to register

Visit www.macsni.org or here to register and www.justgiving.com/campaign/MACSSleepOut2023 to donate.

We ask each Banana Block participant to raise a minimum of £100 in sponsorship, in addition to the adult registration fee of £20. Children will pay a reduced fee of £5 but are still asked to raise the target of £100. 

MACS want to end youth homelessness!

MACS are tackling the problem locally by providing a home and/or support to 700-900  young people across NI each year. We provide homes and access to housing but we also provide holistic support with education, health and wellbeing; training and careers, social participation in the community and ensure young people have life skills such as shopping, cooking and being able to budget their money so they can build positive futures.

MACS's focus is on early intervention; in helping young people build a pathway out of the homelessness cycle. Taking a housing-first approach, MACS supports youths with services tailored to individual needs.

MACS deliver innovative programmes that tackle the barriers and circumstances that contribute to youth homelessness.

One example is MACS Shared Tenancy scheme matches young people to live with others in social or private tenancies. Renting as a pair reduces the overall cost to each individual whilst facilitating companionship, and someone to share household chores and decisions with. With Every Youth's support MACS gives young people a 'rent deposit' - paying deposits or rent in advance can be very prohibitive to young people trying to access the rental market.

MACS has been operating in NI for 34 years, over which time we have developed specialised services including our prison resettlement programme, assessment housing for unaccompanied children and young refugees.MACS are dedicated to helping all young people in need of homes and support.