ControlCircle takes to the streets to raise money for Action for Children’s annual Byte Night sleep out

September 29, 2008 – ControlCircle, the datacentre services company, is raising money for Action for Children by taking part in this year’s Byte Night, the IT industry’s annual sleep out which supports the nation’s most vulnerable young people and their families and highlights the whole issue of youth homelessness.

ControlCircle’s chief executive officer, Damian Milkins, along with Ben Radomski, corporate communications manager, will give up a night in bed, take to their sleeping bags and sleep out in Potter’s Field, near London Bridge.

Barbara Gill, Action for Children’s, Senior Fundraising Executive, “What better way for people to really understand the vulnerability that comes from having no home than to experience it for themselves, even it’s for just one evening. That’s what the Byte Night experience sets out to do.”

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Byte Night and, since it began, over £1.6 million has been raised by people working in IT to give young people a better future.

In 1998, just 35 people slept out and raised £35,000. Since then, Byte Night has grown to become nationwide with this year’s event on Friday October 3, 2008 expected to see 500 people in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and the Thames Valley taking part to raise what is hoped will be £500,000 to fund vital Action for Children projects.

Ken Deeks, founder of Byte Night, says, “The idea for Byte Night came to me when I saw an Action for Children poster on the Underground seeking funding to help end youth homelessness by the millennium. At the time, the IT industry was making huge sums of money on Y2K bug fixes so I thought I’d put the two together and get a hugely rich industry to support a charity which had a pressing need for assistance to solve a really important social problem.”

While much has been done to reduce it, at least 75,000 children and young people experienced homelessness in the UK in the past year, in other words 1 out of every 100 person aged between 16 and 24.(1) The reasons for this are complex but typically result from young people leaving the care system, trauma during childhood or having to leave home because their parents will not accommodate them. And the effects are significant. A third of all young homeless people attempt suicide and, according to the Home Office, 70% are diagnosed with depression or other mental health disorders, or have concerns about their mental health.(2)

Damian Milkins, ControlCircle’s chief executive officer, says, “Frankly most of us have the unconditional support from family to cope with life ups and downs. For those that don’t, things can get tricky with some young people ending up in difficulty. That’s where Action for Children steps in and we’re proud to be supporting such a worthy organisation.”

To donate money to Action for Children, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/bytenight_controlcircle

Your support is greatly appreciated.

About Action for Children

Action for Children is the new name for NCH, the children’s charity, one of the UK’s leading children’s charities established in 1869. Action for Children works in partnership to run nearly 450 services for nearly 170,000 of the UK’s most vulnerable children, young people and their families. For further information visit about Byte Night visit www.bytenight.org.uk

About ControlCircle

ControlCircle, a City-based datacentre services company, is focused on designing, implementing and providing ongoing monitoring & management of mission critical networks and systems for companies and e-commerce sites who need complete confidence in system uptime and security.

Vendor neutral, with a consultative approach to meet clients’ needs, ControlCircle offers an end-to-end solution covering data storage, network security, networking and connectivity, hosting and managed services. And it is the breadth of its managed services, SAN and 24/7/365 monitoring and support which sets ControlCircle apart. For further information about ControlCircle, visit www.controlcircle.com

(1) Rowntree Report, May 2008
(2) Wincup, E. et al., Youth homelessness and substance use: report to the drugs and alcohol research unit, Home Office, London, 2003

Tom Herbst
Tom Herbst PR Limited
tom {at} tomherbstpr.co(.)uk
Mobile: 07768 145571
Office : 0207 274 9937

Ben Radomski, corporate communications manager
ControlCircle Limited
br {at} controlcircle(.)com
Mobile: 07515 575371
Office: 0207 517 6518