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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — C-U At Home’s annual One Winter Night gives community members a unique perspective on homelessness by having them live one night in the cold. It’s all to gain an understanding and grow empathy for the less fortunate.
“I just really enjoy it. And it’s very close to my heart. And so I just really enjoy sharing it with other people.” says Keagan Markun.
16-year-old Keegan Markun has done the challenge for the last eight years. She says the experience lends perspective to many about what the homeless go through every night.
“I think it’s important within our community,” Markun said. “Like, you don’t really think about it in your everyday life, ‘Oh, there’s people that, there’s kids that don’t have homes, or kids that can’t have food and adults that are the same way that they don’t have the support.’ And so I think it’s important even just within our community to help.”
More than one hundred people are participating in this year’s One Winter Night, C-U At Home’s largest event of the year.
“After working with people experiencing homelessness, they tell us, nobody sleeps in a box in central Illinois. It’s just that it’s just not done here. And they’ll say, Yeah, we sleep in tents, we sleep in cars, that type of thing.” says Cedar King, Manager at C-U At Home.
King says this years theme was “Own through the years.”
“We want people’s eyes to be opened more than anything else. That’s what we want more than anything else, because if a person’s eyes are open, that means they may volunteer,” King said. “They may donate for the future. And they may have some empathy and compassion for people who are experiencing homelessness.”
Participating for the first time this year is Theresa Fuller. She says sleeping on the cold concrete is a harsh reality for some.
“It makes me sad to think that tomorrow I get to go home to my warm house, and there’s just a lot of people who don’t get to do that,” Fuller said. “And while there are shelters for people, you know, a lot of people won’t stay in the shelters and a lot of people can’t. Some people are banned from shelters for one reason or another. And so, I would like to think that everyone else kind of has the same thoughts on it. So, you know, we’re just very blessed to be able to go to home to four walls and a warm bed.”
Saturday’s auction will help fund C-U At Home for the next year. Items up for sale include different types of care baskets, sports memorabilia and more. All items were donated by local sponsors.
