By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
People from the St. Joseph community will camp out in their cars and on the Missouri Western State University campus during a special event Friday.
For the third year in a row, the Sisters of Solace will host this event to raise awareness about homelessness.
Board chair Elishia Carrillo says the event is a way to raise awareness of what the homeless experience on a night-to-night basis.
"It's called Sleep Out St. Joe, which is also SOS, we didn't do that on purpose but it was really fun that that happened that way," Carrillo tells Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. "And we just ask people to step into a night of homelessness and be cold and experience what homeless people experience for one night, so that fragile women in our community don't have to do that."
Carrillo says the Sisters invite everyone to come out to experience a night of homelessness to raise awareness, asking people to sleep in their cars.
"A lot of homeless women, and men, find themselves homeless in their car or you know, you can sleep in a box, or just throw your sleeping bag out under the stars if you're so inclined," Carrillo says. "But, it's just to draw awareness to what people experience."
Executive Director Stacey Kerns says that for last year’s event, she spent all day preparing warm clothes and packing coolers, but even with that it was still a tough night.
"If I were to suddenly find myself in that reality, for real, there would be no time to plan, to pack my stuff and to be ready, and we were all ready and still it was a miserable night," Kerns explains to Birr. "And so, that's just kind of my invitation to the community, if you find yourself thinking that's horrible I don't want to do that, that then begs the question would I then let someone else do that?"
The event begins at six o’clock Friday night and runs until six Saturday morning.
You can find out more information about the event HERE.
