Sleep Out for the Homeless: Worst Fundraiser Ever

"Sleep-Outs for the Homeless" are staged around the globe to raise money and awareness for homeless. But don't let the name fool you - instead of being a gritty, real-life glimpse into the devastation of homelessness, they are simply glorified slumber parties.

I was recently contacted by someone in the marketing department of a major charity in the homeless sector. She wanted to know if I would help prevent the local homeless from interrupting people participating in a sleep-out fundraiser activity, which would take place in public space.

What was this problem she was anticipating? Pizza. They were planning on ordering pizza for all the fundraiser participants. While extra pizzas could be ordered to share with any homeless people that crashed the gathering, she said, none of the people were used to dealing with homeless people. They wanted help keeping the real homeless people away from those participating in the Sleep Out.

She wanted to raise funds for their work with homeless people, yet they couldn't handle contact with homeless people? What a joke.

Since that first exposure to sleep-outs for the homeless, I seem to read about the fundraiser happening everywhere. It has become popular among charities for engaging school- and college-age students. For some reason, pizza seems to be a reoccurring theme no matter the age of people involved.

These days there are so many charities repeating this fundraising idea... and all of them execute it badly. The name itself - "sleep-outs for the homeless" - implies some kind of sacrifice or discomfort. In addition to consuming large quantities of pizza, participants watching DVDs to pass the time on large screens, dance to live bands, and share big breakfasts in the morning.

Obviously, this is all very unrealistic. Instead, it's a feel good exercise that kids can mention on their resume or a certificate of participation they can present when they go for their first job. It's akin to tourists visiting a new country and staying in the resort the whole time they're there.

Of course - these criticisms do not apply to everyone. I'm sure there are events that truly exercise solidarity with ‘the poor.' Some of them do it without the live bands and try to make it a supposed sacrifice.

The reality is you can never give someone an accurate taste of living on the streets or being homeless and it's not the point to be made. It boils down to a fundraising exercise, so they should be focusing on raising funds and leaving out the tokenistic exercises like sleep-outs.

You may be thinking - what does it matter? Well, kids sleeping out in a controlled environment where they think they have experienced a night on the streets, the reality of the situation is lost on them. No matter the narrative, they do not come away with a clear understanding of homelessness and take on board inaccurate assumptions based on their so-called experience.

It's much better to host a video night fundraiser and let them go home and sleep in their own beds. Yes it's worth trying to educate young people about homelessness, but inaccurate exercises like sleep-outs for the homeless are counterproductive.

What are your thoughts regarding these ‘Homeless Sleep-Outs?'

If you haven't visited the Forum for Homeless People you are invited to visit and join if you would like to add to the conversation.

Image from Calime_Crochet's public Flickr photostream.