The Sleepout Sistas, masterminded by WiRE’s own Lisa Satchwell, have donned their ‘big girl pants’ and raised almost £5,000 for the YMCA Burton.

WiRE women have supported the YMCA Burton’s annual sleepout individually for a number of years. The event sees people ‘sleeping rough’ for one night in cardboard boxes at the Burton Albion Football stadium.

In 2016, Lisa Satchwell was one of the women who took part.

In 2017, we chose YMCA Burton, represented at our meetings by WiRE member Paula Senior, as our charity of the year. This means that they benefited from the proceeds of raffles at our August and December socials and we collected items for their foodbank throughout the year.

So, when Sleepout came round in October, Lisa rallied a team of 15 local businesswomen – including WiRE women – to become the Sleepout Sistas (and Mista). Lisa kitted them out with big pink superhero pants which made the front page of the Burton Mail.

Just before Christmas, the YMCA held an event to announce the final total of how much had been raised. It had been aiming to raise £35,000 this year – but managed a record-breaking £38,472.03.

It was also announced that the Sleepout Sistas were the team that raised the most with a great £4,935.38.

Paula Senior said: “Thank you everyone who took part, sponsored, shared our posts and for all your support this year with food, fundraising and positivity. It has been a privilege to be your Charity of the Year 2017.”