Vicky Pattison’s All-nighter For Homeless Young People

Vicky Pattison, presenter, author and influencer, stayed awake all night (Friday 28th May) to raise money for leading youth homelessness charity Centrepoint and the young people it supports.

Vicky, who was joined by her mum Caroll for moral support, hosted Centrepoint’s online fundraising event STAY:UP last night, which challenged fundraisers to stay awake from 8pm Friday 28th May until 8am the following morning (Saturday 29th May). STAY:UP raised awareness for homeless young people who often endure sleepless nights as they have nowhere safe to bed down for the night.

Vicky and Caroll stayed awake together by holding a Q&A, watching lots of films, drinking Red Bull and Vicky's mum almost completed a ‘This Morning’ jigsaw puzzle, gifted by Phillip Schofield himself during Vicky’s appearance on the show earlier this week.

Towards the end of her all-nighter, Vicky got quite emotional and explained how this had been a bit of a wakeup call.

She said,
“It’s the final twenty minutes… I actually feel really tearful. I think I’m overtired. I’m twenty minutes from the end and I’m so happy it’s nearly finished. I know it sounds so stupid but being tired is horrible. I can’t imagine what these people have to go through, not in their mam’s nice house, not getting a pizza when they're hungry, not putting a facemask on and watching a nice film; their experience is very different to mine and I’m completely aware of that.”

The Celebrity Masterchef finalist and Queen of the Jungle wasn’t the only familiar face who supported Centrepoint. Molly Moorish Gallagher, daughter of rockstar Liam Gallagher, also got in on the action and stayed up all night. Stand-up Mark Watson, a regular on BBC’s Mock the Week, appeared on John Robertson’s 50 hour comedy marathon ‘The Dark Room’, held in Hackney, London and streamed live on Twitch.

STAY:UP was kick started on Centrepoint’s YouTube channel (@CentrepointUK) by Vicky who spoke to two former Centrepoint residents about their experiences and how the charity helped them rebuild their lives.

Participants kept up their energy levels with an exercise session from lycra-wearing legend Mr Motivator, a cook-along with London-based chef Tait Miller, and DJ sets from AFISHAL, Dan Healy, James Park and Jayli. STAY:UP has currently raised £25,000 for youth homelessness and donations are still coming in.

This year has been an extremely challenging year for the young people Centrepoint support. Over the past year, calls to the charity’s Helpline from young people worried about homelessness increased by approximately a third and demand for urgent support including food packages also rose.

Even before the pandemic, youth homelessness was at a crisis point – over 120,000 young people were facing homelessness between 2019/20.

If you missed the action, head over to Centrepoint’s YouTube channel to catch the highlights: www.youtube.com/channel/UC9dtu7Y8JpHiil4ousVlmEA

It’s not too late to get behind Vicky for her all-nighter. To donate to her fundraising page visit: stayup.centrepoint.org.uk/fundraising/vicky-pattisons-stayup-fundraiser
For more information on Centrepoint and to donate to the charity visit: centrepoint.org.uk/