By Kianna Cooley, Contributing Writer
On November 8, 12 kids from different schools GÇô and a few adults; one crazy enough to stay the whole night GÇô spent the night in boxes in the rain to raise awareness and funds for the Monroe Cold Weather Shelter.
The kids were from Monroe, Sultan and Sky Valley, and one even came from Marysville!
One Homeless Night is an annual event held at the Monroe Cold Weather Shelter by the youth from Morning Star Lutheran Church, The lockout started Saturday at 4 p.m. and ended Sunday, November 9 at 8 a.m.
One Homeless Night is aimed at raising awareness of what homeless families face, as well as raising funds for the Monroe Cold Weather Shelter's efforts to help the homeless in Snohomish County.
We spent about two hours going door-to-door in the Fryelands and made almost $400.-áAfter that we came back and set up our boxes and ate dinner.
We were allowed to bring one food item from home that a homeless person might eat.-áWe were not allowed to heat it up and we did not have a can opener.-áA few kids didn't think about that and brought canned SpaghettiOsGäó!
After dinner we spent a few hours making blankets and teddy bears that we will be selling at the Global Gift Fair at Park Place Middle School on December 6.
We went to 'bed' around 12:30 a.m.-áIt was cold, but not unbearableGǪ until 1:00 a.m. That's when the rain hit!-áIt poured on us for the rest of the night.-áLuckily, most of us had tarps, but those tarps didn't stop the rain from running under the boxes.-áEveryone was completely soaked by 6 a.m. Just getting out of the boxes was a challenge because of the puddles on the ground.
When we did this last year, it was cold but dry.-áThe rain this year really pounded it home about how homeless people really live.-áAt least we had dry clothes to change into and a home and bed to go home to.-áPeople who live on the streets must stay in their wet clothing all day.
The worst part was our feet.-áWe all had soaking wet shoes and socks.-áIt was hard to imagine spending the entire day and most likely the next few days in that condition. It made our determination to raise the $2,000 even stronger.
To date we have raised $1,190.-áWe are hoping that selling the blankets and bears at the Gift Fair will help bring in the rest.-áThe Cold Weather Shelter opened on the November 15 and they could really use the money.
The kids who participated in One Homeless Night are Kianna Cooley, Tyler Courtney, Brandi Dahlinger, Courtney Kingery, Justus Dahlinger, Mckenna Dahlinger, Keaton Dahlinger, Lilly Wardell, Katie Wagner, Mikayla Nagy, Jacob Maxson and Megan Schroeder.
If you would like to help the homeless in our community during the winter months, donations of money, warm clothes, blankets, hats, gloves and scarves can be sent to Morning Star Lutheran Church, 412 S. Lewis St., Monroe, WA 98272. Donations should be marked Cold Weather Shelter
For more information, please call (360) 794-2111 or email mslc@morningstarlc.org.
You can also donate via the website:-áwww.morningstarlc.org
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