ATU Mayo students sleep out for Focus Ireland

Twenty-nine students from ATU Mayo took part in the Shine A Light sleep out for Focus Ireland.

The group took part in the annual fundraising challenge which aims to raise awareness for homelessness last Wednesday, October 9 into the morning of Thursday, October 10.

Speaking to The Mayo News, ATU Mayo’s Student Union Vice President, Christina McGuinness, said it was their way of ‘supporting the homeless community of Ireland’.

“Focus Ireland reached out to universities and third level institutions up and down the country and asked them if they'd maybe be interested in hosting a sleep out.

“We're a Galway/Mayo students union, so there's just myself here in Mayo and three other officers in Galway, but the majority of ATU campuses participated in it. 

“We stayed here in the campus, in the courtyard, from 8pm Wednesday to 8am Thursday morning. So, we did 12 hours out in the rain and the cold and everything, and it was just our way of supporting the homeless community of Ireland. We're uber conscious of it I think because student accommodation is, if there’s a worse word for dire, it's that,” said Ms McGuinness.

The SU Vice President said student accommodation is at ‘a crisis point’ and ‘has been for a while’.

“I manage all the accommodation, other than what's done on the website, in ATU Mayo, I’m one person, I can't physically do it myself. 

“I've a student into me every day, if not a few in crisis point where they have nowhere to go. So either sleeping in the car at the back of the campus, or they're literally, I don't know, I try to not think where they are. So we were doing [the sleep out] obviously to support the entire homeless community of Ireland, but it's kind of more of a stance I suppose on student accommodation and that it's such a mess and the student homelessness is so much bigger than I think a lot of people actually realise,” she added.

_{Student Union Vice President, Christina McGuinness}

Despite setting a goal to raise €150, €360 has been raised from the sleep out.

“I wasn't pushing the donations on the likes of the students themselves, there were a couple of posters around the place, but it was actually staff members who after they came to me and said ‘look, I can't participate in the sleep out, but I'd love to give a few bob’, so that's made a massive influence.

“Staff members, some are parents themselves, some of them put children through college, some of them will be putting children through college, nobody really wants [to struggle for accommodation] for their kids, it's a dire situation.”

She continued: “There's over 24,000 third level students homeless in Ireland as we speak, and they're only the ones that we know about.”

While the group participated in the sleep out, Ms McGuinness noted the ‘luxuries’ they had compared to those struggling with homelessness.

“The whole point of this is to make it as realistic as we can to experience just one night, I suppose, as a lot of people spend many, many nights, many months, many years doing.

“It was a very, very cold night. We had the courtyard here on campus and I just did a few activities with them, keeping the bones moving. The caretakers and staff were absolutely incredible, I do have to mention them, they kept the staff room open for us, we were able to go in and have a cup of tea, again, luxuries for us that we know a lot of people don't have,” said Ms McGuinness.

Ms McGuinness was elected as ATU Mayo’s SU Vice President in March as she studied a level seven Applied Social Care degree.

“This is a full-time position, I finished my degree in June. My level seven in applied social care here at ATU Mayo, but I had to run for election in March, which was crazy because I was actually in placement at the time. I was elected by the student body at the end of March and I started the course in June after I finished my degree. So it was a chaotic turnaround.

“I love it, I wouldn't change it for the world, it's something very, very different. My predecessor was absolutely incredible at her job, as were the ones before her, so I suppose it's very intimidating coming in, and it's very much a jack of all trades, and you can't afford to be a master of none of them, and I'm learning every day, but I am so passionate about the Mayo Youth,” concluded Ms McGuinness.