{"id":1508,"date":"2025-04-01T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T13:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/firstport-colleagues-support-the-great-tommy-sleep-out\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T13:24:08","slug":"firstport-colleagues-support-the-great-tommy-sleep-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/charity\/firstport-colleagues-support-the-great-tommy-sleep-out\/","title":{"rendered":"FirstPort colleagues support The Great Tommy Sleep Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout March, FirstPort colleagues joined hundreds of people across the country to take part in The Great Tommy Sleep Out, raising vital funds to support homeless veterans.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The campaign, led by the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI), sheds light on the struggles faced by veterans who don\u2019t have a safe place to call home.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The fundraising efforts kicked off with FirstPort Managing Director Martin King spending a night in -2\u00b0C temperatures on the deck of HMS Cavalier.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colleagues from the Tembani Court retirement development in Paignton also took on the challenge, spending the night on the seafront near to the development.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Resourcing Partner Zara and her family took part in The Great Tommy Sleep Out in tribute to her late grandfather. She said: \u201cSupporting the Armed Forces is incredibly important to me and my family. My grandad was an active member of the Royal British Legion and marched in local parades until he passed away in 2017. We were so proud of him.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst many took part in single-night Sleep Outs, FirstPort Property Manager Damian took things to the next level. He became the first and only person in the UK to sleep outside for the entire month as part of the campaign.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having spent years interacting with veterans and military personnel before joining FirstPort, Damian says: \u201cI understand the sacrifices they made as soldiers and the long-lasting impact it had on their lives. The Great Tommy Sleep Out is my way of giving something back and will hopefully help those less fortunate than me.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Damian has endured freezing temperatures, frost-covered mornings, and the 4:30am wake-up calls of chirping birds throughout the course of the fundraising.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To round off the month of fundraising, a group of colleagues joined 70 other fundraisers at the Detling Showground in Maidstone and slept in a recreated World War I trench.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Among those in the group is Sean, a Development Manager from Essex, who knows firsthand the challenges many ex-service personnel face after leaving the military.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After leaving the military, Sean was homeless, unemployed, and battling severe depression and anxiety. It wasn\u2019t until military charities stepped in, providing mental health support and essential funding, that Sean was able to rebuild his life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sean explained: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVeterans are often forgotten about when there are no conflicts being reported. The battle doesn\u2019t end when we take off our uniforms. Many of us are fighting battles that last a lifetime.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This experience is why Sean is passionate about supporting FirstPort\u2019s charity partner Tommy Club, which is part of the RBLI. He adds: \u201cThe work Tommy Club does is lifesaving. Many forget that military service isn\u2019t just a job, it\u2019s a whole way of life. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTransitioning back to civilian life is incredibly difficult, and many veterans need support to navigate that shift.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Making a difference<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether donating, spending a night in a trench, a month in a tent, or camping out in their gardens, colleagues at FirstPort have shown unwavering support to raise funds for veterans who don\u2019t have a safe place to call home. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to find out more about FirstPort\u2019s work with Tommy Club, go to: <\/span>https:\/\/tommyclub.co.uk\/firstport\/<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout March, FirstPort colleagues joined hundreds of people across the country to take part in The Great Tommy Sleep Out, raising vital funds to support homeless veterans.\u00a0\u00a0 The campaign, led by the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI), sheds light on the struggles faced by veterans who don\u2019t have a safe place to call home.\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charity"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstport.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}