Homeless youngsters can ‘SLEAP’ safely thanks to Aegis backing

Aegis has donated £750 to help protect staff working on their own for SLEAP, a local charity for homeless young people.

SLEAP – Support in Leyland with Emergency Accommodation for Young People – is based in Leyland and also covers the Chorley and South Ribble areas.

The charity provides over 2,000 bed nights each year, supporting between 25 and 40 young people. It was set up in 1992 as the Leyland Churches Homeless Project to provide emergency accommodation among host families for homeless youngsters.

Adam Kaley, commercial director at Aegis commented: “As we are a company working in the health and safety field, we thought this would be an appropriate way to help a local charity.

“For people working on their own, there are significant risks that must be managed – as the tragic case of Suzi Lamplugh, who disappeared while working alone in 1986 clearly illustrates.”

The plan for Aegis to support SLEAP was hatched over a garden fence during a chat between two neighbours.

One was Tim Hudson, technical director at Aegis, and the other was Kieran Walsh, who worked at SLEAP and knew the charity needed funding to continue providing its essential service.

Tim liked the idea of a health and safety company funding a project at a charity committed to keeping its staff safe, and eventually the support package was finalised.

For further information about SLEAP visit (www.sleap.co.uk)