Quinte area residents will again be challenged to give up one night in their comfy beds to brave cold temperatures to help transform the lives of others.

The 13th and final Sleep Out So Others Can Sleep In is happening at 250 Sidney Street on Friday night.

Participants will spend roughly 12 hours sleeping, or trying to sleep, inside cardboard boxes to raise awareness and funds.

Canadian Mental Health Association Hastings Prince Edward Executive Director Sandie Sidsworth said this year the plan is to go out big and double fundraising efforts to $20,000 for the CMHA’s transitional homes and the Grace Inn Shelter.

For more than a decade, the event has been paramount in helping everyday people rebuild their lives through drawing awareness, understanding and fundraising.

Sidsworth said this year they are taking a different approach and will shine a light on education and the resources available to those in need.

“It’s important that the community doesn’t see homelessness as a CMHA problem or a Grace Inn problem, or it’s a 3 Oaks issue,” she said.  “It is the whole community that is working together toward making changes for those individuals that are dealing with this issue on an ongoing basis.”

The night will feature many quest speakers including Bridge Street United Church; Hasting Housing Resource Centre; The Salvation Army Belleville Community & Family Services and Thrift Store; Not Alone Team - Quinte; Three Oaks; Warrior Women of Quinte and United Way Hastings & Prince Edward.

“It’s not our work alone,” she said pointing to Not All Team Quinte, that is going into the camps to check on the City’s homeless community. 

“What we are doing is trying to take those folks and try and get them stabilized and move them into sustainable housing.  Build the community capacity for that sustainability and that’s what we are good at is moving people a long that continuum.  It is about saying to someone – here is where you start with this agency and how you get supports – and you just grow it.”

Sidsworth said with homelessness coupled with the ongoing affordable housing crisis, the problem isn’t going away anytime soon, if anything it’s increasing.  For seniors she said, the complex care needs that they present are overwhelming.

That’s where Diane’s Place, Our House and Our House 2 have proved to be a lifesaver for so many.  On any given night, the CMHA’s five-bed units are at capacity.  Last year, the 141 people sought shelter and support services within their walls. The Grace Inn which opened its 21-bed facility for men and woman in Dec. 2019, has reached capacity many times.

With the extensive amount of turnover, Sidsworth stated there are general repairs that need to be made at their transitional homes.

Sidsworth said society still fights a stereotype of what a homeless individual look like.

“It’s everyone,” she said.  “We here that statistic time and time again that we are all one or two pay cheques away from really struggling to put a roof over our heads.”

Sidsworth herself is no stranger to the struggles that come with being a single parent.

“Sometimes there was choices and they were hard choices,” she revealed.  “I was extremely grateful for the food bank.  I was extremely thankful for people that would help me keep the lights on, try to go to school, raise three kids and work part time jobs to prepare my future.”

For more on the event or to dinate click here.