Students, community members and city officials will brave the elements Friday night when they sleep outside in cardboard boxes to raise awareness about homelessness in Champaign-Urbana.
C-U at Home is hosting the second One Winter Night event to raise money to support the area’s homeless people. Locations for this year’s event will be at the corner of Neil Street and University Avenue in downtown Champaign and on the Quad. Participants will arrive at their locations at 6 p.m. Friday and leave at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Melany Jackson, executive director of the organization, said she hopes the event raises $50,000 this year, up from the $29,700 raised last year.
“The funds raised from One Winter Night will be the majority of our annual budget,” she said. “Again this year we did not receive government funding. … We are a donation-based volunteer organization.”
According to the C-U at Home website, the goal is to raise at least $50 per participant.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
“This is a huge awareness-raising event,” Jackson said. “Decision making people will be spending 12 hours overnight outside on the street in a cardboard box. They will be changed when they wake up in the morning.”
Gabriella Sorich, senior in social work, said it feels great to see increasing support for the homeless population.
“The organization is still very young, but the community involvement and support that they have gotten in the past two years has been tremendous,” she said in an e-mail.
Public officials from the cities of Champaign and Urbana will attend the event to support the cause despite the anticipated cold weather.
Last year, Champaign Mayor Don Gerard participated in the event and has decided to participate again this year.
“I’m going to this event to support the event,” Gerard said. “It’s really great and that’s why we need to succeed.”
Urbana Police Chief Pat Connolly said it is important for the community to be aware of the issue of homelessness.
“It’s a really worthy cause,” Connolly said. “I’m a firm believer in the community-policing concept, and what better way to engage with the community than to help the homeless population?”
Carina can be reached at [email protected].
