I’m sure that some of us have heard of Temple Sleep Out, but how much do you really know about it? Temple Sleep Out is an all-night fundraiser that supports the efforts of Covenant House. Covenant House is an International Organization that is focused on helping young people stay off the streets in an effort to reduce homelessness among young adults. An average of 3.5 million young adults ages 18-25 experience a form of homelessness in the course of a year — that’s huge. Luckily, Covenant House has been able to reach over 80,000 boys and girls every year. Covenant House runs on its five guiding principles: Immediacy, Sanctuary, Value communication, Structure and Choice. In using these principles, they believe that they are able to make a greater difference and a larger impact on the homeless youths of today.
Temple Sleep Out is run by six students consisting of Kevin Zabel, Julia Prevost, Hallie Reardon, Quinn Litsinger, Sarah Depman and Mariesa Cozza. Temple’s Sleep Out will take place on Beury Beach on November 8, with all participants raising $50. Upon arrival, there will be food and games, as well as guest speakers who can shed a light on the important, but lesser known, sides of youth homelessness. In bringing the idea of a “sleep out” to the university, the group has been able to surpass their original goal of 150 signees for their petition to sleep out and has now set a new goal to raise $10,000 by the night of the event.
Covenant House had the idea to start “Sleep Out” events where participants would raise money for the cause and spend one night sleeping outside in Covenant House sites or in private backyards, school grounds or community spaces. Sleep outs are the perfect way to spread awareness about youth homelessness while sharing this experience with friends and supporting the cause. Covenant House urges that this experience is not about the glorification of homelessness, but instead about bringing awareness to the reality of youth homelessness.
Most of us are privileged enough to know where we will sleep tonight, but there are fellow students among us that are not so lucky. Spreading awareness to homelessness among American youths can help the estimated 4.2 million kids that will experience homelessness this year.
By participating, not only would you be raising money to support a great organization, but you also would be spreading awareness about a real cause affecting millions of young adults every year.
For more information on Covenant House and the Sleep Out movement, check out these links:
https://www.covenanthouse.org/
https://www.sleepout.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.home
https://temple-news.com/temple-student-organizes-sleep-out-event-for-youth-homelessness/
To get more information on how to get involved with Temple’s Sleep Out, email Hallie Reardon at: hallie.reardon@temple.edu