Residents sleep out for the homeless
Residents sleep out for the homeless
November 8, 2010
By KIMBERLY FORNEK kfornek@pioneerlocal.com
More than 1,200 adolescents and young adults were expected to sleep outdoors this past weekend to publicize the plight of the homeless.
Tim Evely, 12, of Elmhurst participated in Sleep Out Saturday through his church, Christ Church of Oak Brook. He joined 14 other boys who met at the church, car-pooled to a rally in Glen Ellyn and spent the night in one boy's backyard in Hinsdale.
Reed Meyer, 11, of Hinsdale, Chris Irby, 11, of Elmhurst, and Ryan Sidler, 12, of Yorkwoods swap stories in front of the bonfire.
"We raise money for homeless people in the Chicago suburbs," Evely said. "We sleep outside to see what it is like."
Local participants in Sleep Out Saturday raised money for the Bridge Communities Transitional Housing program.
Last year, the Christ Church youth group raised more than $9,000, said Evely, who attends Bryan Middle School. They hoped to surpass that amount this year.
The boys in the Hinsdale backyard slept in sleeping bags and cardboard boxes, but had the comfort of knowing a warm house was only a few steps away. Evely recognized it was not comparable to how homeless people live on the street.
"You have to recognize what these people are going through every day, rather than what we are going through for one night," he said.
But the evening is not fun and games, either.
"I don't think there are many kids coming for the fun of it - many of them are already complaining about the night," Andy Jack, the middle school pastor at Christ Church, said Saturday evening as the boys arrived.
Jack said his students seemed to respond when hearing that 30 percent of the 45,000 DuPage County residents living in poverty are under the age of 5.
"Two weeks ago, we put a real face to homelessness when we invited a former Bridge Communities client to speak to our group," Jack wrote in an e-mail. "This mother of four children recounted the stress of living just one paycheck away from homelessness.
"She shared her journey from hopelessness to the services and opportunities at Bridge Communities that have provided her family with a better future. We ended our time with this woman by having our students come up on stage and pray for her and her children. After that night, our registration for Sleep Out Saturday doubled."
At First United Methodist Church of Elmhurst, 25 youngsters, ages 8 to 16, and seven adults slept in tents or boxes on the lawn Saturday night after attending the rally.
"We have participated in (the fundraising event) for five out of the seven years it has existed," First United Methodist Youth Ministries Director Lisa Rogers said. "Bridge Communities is such a worthwhile organization. We're proud to take part in Sleep Out Saturday."