Others may not have noticed when the weather dipped to 30 degrees on the night of November 6, 2010; but twenty-two high school students and adult leaders couldn't miss that fact as they huddled in their sleeping bags in the First Pres courtyard.  This year WF participated in our third annual Sleep Out Saturday, an evening hosted by Bridge Communities of Glen Ellyn designed to raise awareness of homelessness and funding for homeless recovery.

The evening started with a rally of all the Sleep Out Saturday participants in DuPage.  Radio station 101.9FM hosted the evening, and two real-life teenagers whose family had been helped by Bridge spoke to the audience.  The family is now in a home, and the oldest teen has a scholarship to attend college.

After the rally participants set up their "homes" fashioned out of cardboard boxes and duct tape.  They then played games, talked around a campfire, and watched a movie before hiding away to sleep in their boxes, completely covered by layers and layers of blankets.  In the morning participants moved indoors to thaw out and eat some breakfast before heading to church without having showered or changed!

Although this experience had many luxuries that a typical homeless person would not have enjoyed - restrooms, the ability to go indoors if needed, a gift of hot chocolate and donuts late at night, countless blankets that would be too bulky to carry, and even the ability to watch a movie - the youth participants learned a lot from this experience.  Not only do they now appreciate the warmth of their homes and beds much more, but they are now driven to help out homeless people they encounter on the streets, even with something as simple as a smile to acknowledge that person's equality and spread some good cheer.