Sydney FC’s longest serving player Rhyan Grant will be sleeping rough alongside leading Australian sports stars next month, in an effort to raise money and awareness of youth homelessness.
Grant is looking to raise $3,000 to take part in the inaugural “Sports Stars Sleepout” which takes place on the hallowed turf of the Sydney Cricket Ground on the eve of Homelessness Week 2018.
The event is being held by The Chappell Foundation on Sunday 5th August and is to support the tens of thousands of young Australians who sleep without a roof over their heads.
Grant will be joined by cricket royalty Greg and Trevor Chappell while rugby union legends David Campese, Nick Farr-Jones and Phil Waugh will also be among those sleeping out.
Matildas striker Michelle Heyman and current Aussie cricket stars Stephen O’Keefe, Moises Henriques, Ashleigh Gardner and Lisa Sthalekar will also be taking part, as well as a raft of other ‘soon to be announced’ sports celebrities from other codes.
Grant, who will become the one of the club’s first ten-year players this season, is happy to be raising awareness of an important issue.
“It’s incredible to think that there are over 44,000 young homeless people in this country in 2018,” he said.
“When I saw those statistics I was only happy to take part and join the others in raising money to get these young people safe and back on their feet.”
The sport stars will be given a cardboard box each to build a shelter as well as a sleeping bag and will undergo an experience that one in every 200 Australians face every night.
All money raised will go to “BackTrack” – an organisation which does ground breaking work with the homeless youth.
You can sponsor Rhyan and help him raising funds for the cause by clicking here.
