Hand-carving spoon enthusiast from Halifax serves up an all-night masterclass to raise money for homeless young people

Publisher Jenny, who is a self-confessed night owl, started spoon-carving earlier this year and then their hobby went onto flourish during the pandemic.

Jenny is now showing the world how to carve spoons by hand live on Instagram and published progress through the night on the social media channel feed.

One lucky donor of Jenny’s will be randomly selected to receive the hand-made spoon Jenny carved on the night.

Over £260 has been raised so far and To keep up-to-date with the action tune into Jenny’s Instagram @originaljc.

Jenny is also collecting donations on a JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stayupteam2020-jennychester.

Jenny is taking part in Centrepoint’s virtual fundraising event STAY:UP and raising money for the homeless young people Centrepoint supports.

The mass participation event STAY:UP replaces the charity’s long-running annual Sleep Out and asks participants to go one night without sleep to raise awareness for homeless young people who are often forced to go without sleep, as they have nowhere safe to bed down for the night.

Jenny said: “I was fascinated by hand-carved spoons when I saw some delicate ones at a Christmas market and throughout the lockdown there was plenty of time for me to fall in love with carving my own. It’s so different and I find it really relaxing.

“Supporting homeless young people is something I’m really passionate about. There are so many LGBTQ+ people who suffer from homelessness; the numbers are really startling. I was so lucky have a supportive family, but others end up in very difficult circumstances. We all have a moral obligation to help out and I do believe the homeless crisis in the UK is preventable and unacceptable.”

Centrepoint estimates that 110,000 young people in the UK were homeless, or at risk of homelessness, in 2018/19. Now, in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, Centrepoint has already seen the number of people calling their Helpline who are sleeping rough double.

Centrepoint runs hostels across the UK supporting homeless young people into a job and a home. The money Jenny raises will go directly towards safe accommodation, education and training programmes and physical and mental health support for vulnerable young people.

STAY:UP took place on Centrepoint’s Instagram (@CentrepointUK) from hursday 8th October until this morning and featured actress Lisa Maxwell and a performance by The Vamps. For Jenny’s spoon carving masterclass visit Instagram @originaljc.