*photo by 3 Little Birds Photography
You might want to bring a blanket. Or two. Or a dozen.
Spending the night outdoors during Illinois’ coldest month is not something anyone wants to do.
But each night, over 14,000 Illinois residents have to find a warm place to lay their heads. And if they can’t, they sleep on the street.
C-U at Home’s One Winter Night fundraiser not only helps the organization raise two-thirds of its operating costs, but also gives those fortunate people an opportunity to spend 12 overnight hours sleeping along Neil Street, in Champaign.
Last year Tolono resident Dustin Krause raised the required $1,000 to participate. This year his friend, St. Joseph resident Jessica Schluter, will join him.
Krause, who worked for a company in downtown Champaign for a few years, remembers seeing the street lined with cardboard boxes and hundreds of people.
When he heard an advertisement for the event a year later, he decided to participate.
“It was incredibly eye-opening. It was probably one of the most transformative nights of my life,” Krause said. “It’s so eye-opening to sleep on the cold concrete streets.”
But it wasn’t the cold that surprised him.
“I just couldn’t believe all of the little things that you wouldn’t even necessarily consider,” he said.
“It was really cold and windy last year, had several blankets, very bundled up. It was even hard to carry that stuff around.
“That’s something that you don’t think about; how do they get stuff around?”
Krause also didn’t think about going to the bathroom.
“A couple hours into it, I needed to go to the bathroom. Then it was like this is what they have to experience. They don’t know where they are going to go to the bathroom, they don’t know when they are going to get to warm up somewhere inside.”
With six blankets and 12-layers on, Krause woke up at 3 a.m. feeling like his feet were frozen.
“The wind is killer,” he said.
Krause’s experience touched Jessica so much that when he sent her a personalized video earlier this year to fundraise again, she decided to join him.
“I started thinking about it, and I thought I can do this,” Schluter said.
“I just can’t imagine if that were me: how lost I would feel and how hopeless it is to not have anywhere to go,” Schluter said. “I’ve never had that experience where at the end of the day, I didn’t have somewhere to go home to or a bed to lay my head on or a roof over my head. I can’t imagine that. And most people can’t.
“I’ve been blessed to have enough money to pay my bills and have a little bit left over. I feel like I should be giving back to people.”
Schluter said that the only reason that she knew about One Winter Night or C-U at Home is because of Krause’s testimony about his experience.
She hopes that through her journey, she will also be able to bring awareness to the organization.
Most of all, she appreciates that C-U at Home treats guests with dignity.
“They don’t think of people as the homeless population. They call them their friends without an address,” she said.
When friends with an address and friends without an address get together, everyone is treated like a human being.
“Not having a place to live or get warm can be pretty dehumanizing,” she said.
Schluter also mentioned that C-U at Home has emergency warming stations so that when the winter weather gets too rough or frigid, people can come in for relief. They also have transitional housing for people who are getting back on their feet.
“I feel like there is a stigma towards homeless people, and we just turn a blind eye,” she said.
Upon arrival at One Winter Night, she and Krause will be given a cardboard box. There will also be speakers throughout the night to educate fundraisers on the programs C-U at Home hosts.
As for the event itself, Schluter is nervous about being out in the cold for so long, especially overnight.
“I’ve looked at the forecast, and it will be in the mid-teens,” she said.
Krause suggested that Schluter bring tarps for the ground and the sides of the cardboard box to help keep the wind out. She has also connected with a friend who hunts. He will give her a sub-zero temperature sleeping bag and a ski mask, but although offered, she will not take a heated coat.
“I can’t take it. I feel like it’s cheating,” she said
Schluter and Krause will be able to set up their “home” for the night side-by-side.
Schluter has set her fundraising goal at $1,500 for the event which will be held on Feb. 1.
Krause said that when he learned that C-U at Home does not receive state or federal funding and that One Winter Night is their only fundraising event, he knew that he had to participate again.
“Every dollar they get is so important. You hear people say that all the time with fundraising events. ‘Every little bit helps.’ But for an organization like this, it truly is so important.”
To donate to Schluter’s campaign, visit https://secure.qgiv.com/event/account/702177.
