The Gold Coast SUNS’ third annual Sleepout was held at Metricon Stadium last Friday night, with hundreds flocking to raise awareness and funds to tackle youth homelessness in the community.
 
For the first time in the event’s short history, participants were able to spend the entire night on the hallowed turf, following an evening full of family friendly activities.
 
“This is the third year that we’ve actually run this event, but it’s the first time we’ve run it with everyone allowed to sleep on the main field,” GC SUNS GM of Stadium, Consumer and Community, Kelly Ryan told SUNS TV.
 
“It’s all about family activities, we’ve got the rock climbing wall, the AFL playground, obviously kids can run around and have a kick on the field for as long as they like, we’ve got the dunk tank, which all of our boys are featuring in at some stage.”
 
Youth homelessness is a significant issue on the Gold Coast and something the SUNS have focused on drawing attention to in recent years.
 
“At the end of the day it’s all to raise awareness and funds for youth homelessness, which unfortunately is a really prevalent issue on the Gold Coast,” Ryan said.
 
“We know that there’s up to about 700 youth that sleep rough every night. So this is one of our responsibilities that we actually want to give back to the community and do our little bit to actually help raise awareness for that really important issue.”