Sleep Out Saturday to celebrate 20 years of raising awareness of and support for family homelessness
On Saturday, Nov. 4, Bridge Communities will be hosting its 20th annual Sleep Out Saturday. The event will have over 1,000 participants from all over DuPage County sleeping outside in tents, cars, and boxes to raise awareness of and support for family homelessness.
Over its 20-year history, Sleep Out Saturday and the Sleep Out Stars, who participated in the event, had a huge impact raising more than $1.5 million to support the families facing homelessness in Bridge Communities' transitional housing program.
Bridge Communities and its supporters hope to continue to increase that decades long impact this year with their fundraising goal of $125,000. These funds will be raised by the Sleep Out Stars' personal fundraising efforts.
To kick off Sleep Out Saturday on Nov. 4th, Bridge Communities will be hosting a Sleep Out Rally from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at College of DuPage's Lakeside Pavilion before participants head back to their Sleep Out site for the night. Participants and the public are invited to join the Rally.
To celebrate the event's 20th year, the Rally will have a former Bridge client, who was with at the first SOS Rally 20 years ago, share the story of her time in the Bridge program.
There will also be entertainment, door prizes, wool beanie hats for all participants, soup and bread provided by the COD Culinary Arts Students and more.
Proceeds from Sleep Out Saturday benefit the 100+ families served annually by Bridge Communities and provide transitional housing, life-skills mentoring, financial counseling and more.
To sign up to sleep out or to donate to Sleep Out Saturday participants, visit www.sleepoutsaturday.org.
Bridge Communities is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to provide housing, mentoring and supportive services to families facing homelessness in DuPage County.
Bridge Communities' vision is a community where all families have safe, sustainable, and affordable housing and life-long self-sufficiency. In the past 35 years, Bridge Communities has helped more than 950 families cross the bridge from homelessness to hope and self-sufficiency. For more information, visit www.bridgecommunities.org.