By Sarah Dale
12 November 2025
Braving the cold for one night to raise awareness and money for a national homelessness charity founded in Teesside is something that 11-year-old Alice Carruthers will never forget.
The schoolgirl from Wynyard is a member of the Junior Journalist programme run by NetWORK NotWORK CIC and spent the evening capturing other participants’ experiences through her newfound journalistic skills of conducting interviews and taking photographs.
She took part in the CEO Sleepout in Sunderland on Thursday night [6 November] with her seven-year-old brother Alex, their dad Michael and NetWORK NotWORK chief operating officer Sophie Dodgson.
Alice is “proud” to have taken on the challenge of bedding down for the night in her sleeping bag outdoors in the Stadium of Light from 8pm to 6am the following morning.
“I was born prematurely, which brought some challenges like hearing loss and tunnel vision, but it’s also made me stronger,” explains Alice.
“School hasn’t always been easy, and I’ve often had to work harder to keep up, but I’ve learned that struggling means growing.
“A big part of my journey has been joining Junior Journalism, a place that gives young people like me a voice and a safe space to learn and share. It’s helped me build confidence, develop new skills and realise that my story matters. I may have challenges, but I also have dreams – and I’m proud of who I am.”
Junior Journalism is one of the strands of NetWORK NotWORK, a community interest company – founded by Alice’s mum and dad, Kat and Michael Carruthers – which aims to make networking “more fun”, promote business growth and create an empowered intergenerational community. It has seven networking groups across the North-east in Stockton, Redcar, Hartlepool, Sunderland, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.
The CIC was created to provide a solution to the challenge of social value that works for businesses, enhances workplace culture, provides seamless CPD opportunities and ensures personal and professional growth.
NetWORK NotWORK is also extremely committed to its younger members and provides a series of programmes, including ‘Level Up! Navigating your way to WORK with NetWORK NotWORK’, supporting individuals not in employment, education or training (NEET), and ‘Ignite XP’, supporting children and young adults from eight to 24, as well as a creative media programme, ‘Junior Journalism’, to give pupils opportunities to explore the world of work, develop vital skills and build their confidence.
As part of the Junior Journalism programme, Alice, like the others on the scheme, has grown her skillset through learning how to interview and film people for a podcast and she was thrilled to test her skills at the event in Sunderland.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to meet the people taking part in CEO Sleepout and learn about what it’s like to be homeless,” adds Alice.
CEO Sleepout is a national charity, founded in Teesside, which was set up to inspire the business community to unite to fight homelessness, raise money for frontline services, and help to change lives.
Funding for the Junior Journalism programme was provided by Larch, Thirteen, Asda Foundation and Miller Homes, and the Ignite XP! programme has been funded by Believe Housing and Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
To find out more about NetWORK NotWORK and to register for free at one of the upcoming events, visit www.networknotwork.co.uk
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