Outdoor Sleep-A-Thon Raised Funds & Awareness For Workcampers

By Shannon Hicks

Youth from Newtown Congregational Church, St Rose of Lima, Newtown United Methodist Church, and even Sacred Heart spent a very cold overnight, sleeping in cardboard housing as part of an event they and their adult chaperones called The Great Outdoor Sleep-A-Thon. The fundraiser ran from about 3 pm Saturday, January 24, when everyone was asked to arrive at the Congregational Church to begin assembling where they would sleep that evening, until 6 am on Sunday, January 25.

Participants found sponsorship one of two ways. They asked people to promise a certain amount of money for each hour they stayed outside, or they accepted a flat donation. At the end of the day (or the crack of dawn…), the group raised just over $1,000, Pastor Matthew Crebbin, senior pastor of Newtown Congregational Church and a workcamp advisor, said this week.

Group members built temporary shelters and slept outside to raise money for their June service trip to assist in home renovation and repair in the poorer neighborhoods of Oakland, Md. Nearly 30 young adults will be traveling to Maryland in June, and 20 of them spent at least part of their night at NCC last Saturday.

Participants in the workcamp sleepathon were Chris Annes, Jessica Balsano, Jamie Bowers, Jen Callery, Kate Cochrane, Briana Cologna, Michelle Davis, Anastasia DeMarche, Sarah Ferris, Leigh Gerety, Aquib Hossain, Kaitlyn Kakadeles, Jeff Keating, Scott Keating, Jason Marks, Ellie Mouchantat, Jacqueline Rosa, Luke Shearin, Drew Sullivan, and Maggie Sullivan.

They had stew for dinner, served in a setting very much like a soup kitchen. And like soup kitchens, once the meal was served the doors were closed and locked, and clients had to make their way back outside to fend for themselves.

“We set it up as they might experience in a shelter situation, or more specifically a soup kitchen, where they have a chance to get warm and some food, but they can’t stay in there for too long,” Mr Crebbin said. While the young adults were not allowed to stay in the “soup kitchen” area of the church all night, there were allowed to go into and out of the church building at intervals.

It was cold outside. It is January, after all, and we are working our way through a more typical New England winter than we have experienced for a few years: Snow storms and below-freezing temperatures, which have been keeping the snow on the ground for weeks after it has fallen. For a homeless person, that does not make it easy to get some sleep at night.

Frozen Duct Tape

“We rotated because it was very cold,” Pastor Crebbin said. The evening was meant to be a learning exercise, not a form of punishment, after all.

The workcampers arrived at NCC and had to build their accommodations for the evening from cardboard. It was so cold that the duct tape they were going to use had to actually be warmed up before it would stick to the cardboard. The heat from a nearby fire was put to good use for that.

A large cardboard “building” was constructed on the south side of the church (to the left of the sanctuary area if you are standing in the parking lot and looking at the building’s front entrance). The interior of the construction was divided in half, with some of the campers sleeping in one “room” and the others in the second area.

Adults Jerry and Matt Cole, Matt Crebbin, Vicky Truitt, and Shauna King slept in a separate tent. While they were unable to participate in the sleepover last weekend, the other adult board members this year are Sheila Cole, Bob and Lori Morlath, Shauna King, and Sue Mouchantat. The chaperones going to Maryland are Jerry and Matt Cole, Matt Crebbin, Shauna King, Jean Marie Morlath, Vicky Truitt, and Rich Weiss.

Scott Keating, a freshman at NHS, was one of the workcampers who participated in the sleep-a-thon last weekend. He was also one of the few who stayed outside all night.

“It was kind of like a chance for us to get to know what it was like to be a homeless person,” Scott said on Monday. “There is an uncertainly of not knowing where you’re going to stay, and just being out in the cold.”

In addition to the cardboard houses, there was a burn barrel that helped to keep everyone warm. The campers enjoyed sledding on the front lawn of the church, playing hide and seek, cutting up pallets for firewood, pogo sticking to keep warm, and eating the snacks that were provided by parents.

For those who were unable to stay outside all night, the church door was open to allow campers to move indoors… but not necessarily to very comfortable beds.

“In my side of the box there wasn’t much sleeping because everybody was up talking,” said Scott. “Even if we tried to go to sleep we couldn’t because it was so cold. We pretty much stayed up talking the whole night.”

Sarah Ferris did not stay at the church all night because of a schedule conflict early Sunday morning, but she did stay with her fellow campers until 1 am.

“We had a pogo stick contest to stay warm, and we had breaks every hour or two where we got to go inside. It got pretty cold,” said Sarah, who admitted that while the experience gave her and the other participants an idea of what it might be like to be homeless, it did not tell the full story. “It’s not the same, sleeping outside in a box for one night, as being homeless and we know that.”

Raising Awareness

The group took on this challenge to create awareness for the many who are living in inadequate housing and other challenging circumstances.

Around 11 pm, the group convened for a meeting. Sarah said she and the other campers were encouraged to discuss what they were thinking and feeling as they fought to stay warm.

“Everyone felt like it was good to remember others, to think about the struggles of other people,” she said. “We talked about the shelters in Danbury, how they’re overflowing every night in the winter and that’s only a couple of minutes away from our houses.

“Reverend Crebbin asked if any of us had ever had a time when they didn’t know where they were going to sleep at night, and none of us had,” she continued. “We may be going into a community where people have had those experiences. I think that stayed on our minds as we tried to sleep.”

“I think the coordinators wanted to give us a good idea of some of the things we don’t always think about,” said Jacque Rosa, who is heading into workcamp for the first time this year. “It definitely made an impression. I think we were all very thankful for our warm houses, and our warm beds, when we went home on Sunday. It’s a good mindset to have going into workcamp.”

“It turned out really well. It was fun,” said Sarah’s mom Terry Ferris, who spent part of the night outdoors with the group. “I was surprised at how much fun it turned out to be.”

Group Workcamp is an ecumenical gathering of youth from throughout the United States who spend a week repairing homes for those in need of assistance. The mission of the Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Ministry is to help its youth gain a closer relationship with God, to provide an opportunity to touch the lives of people in other communities, and to make friends with youth from other areas of the country.

Fundraising efforts for the 2009 trip have already included a Santa’s Workshop and a collection outside Newtown Hardware. The largest annual workcamp fundraiser, a major breakfast event, is being planned for April 4 at Roberto’s Restaurant in Monroe, and additional fundraisers may also take place.

There are a limited number of spots available to attend the mission trip in June. Any interested youth may contact coordinators Sheila and Jerry Cole at 426-4529 for additional information.