Williamsburg Youth Choose Homelessness For One Night

Saturday, November 13, 2010

It’s hard to understand what it's like to be homeless, unless you experience it. Imagine trying to find enough warmth and comfort somewhere to get some shut-eye and then being rousted and told to move along, or getting a few hours of rest in one heated building before moving to another so as not to draw attention.

More than 200 young people in Williamsburg will get some first-hand experience of what it's like to be homeless Saturday night with Avalon’s first annual “One Night Without a Home.” Youth between the ages of 12 and 25 will bring their own boxes along and sleep in various outdoor places in the community to find out what it feels like to be without a warm bed on a cold November night.

“Homelessness is exploding in Greater Williamsburg,” says Avalon Executive Director Sarah Meacham. For the last 22 months, Avalon has received six to seven requests for shelter every day from local residents experiencing domestic violence and poverty-driven homelessness, she says. According to a press release by Avalon about the event, an estimated 300 people in Williamsburg are homeless.

One Night Without a Home is a national program designed to commemorate National Homeless Awareness Week. The event “is an incredibly impactful experience to bring awareness and empathy to those experiencing homelessness,” according to Meacham. “There is no greater way to gain awareness and empathy than to walk in another's shoes.”

Her organization decided to participate by hosting their own event this year because, “as Williamsburg's only emergency shelter, we realize that we need to bring awareness to this issue by engaging our youth and faith community as key partners in serving those most in need.”

The kick-off of the event will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the public is welcome. The participants will have some dinner and will watch the movie, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” which will also be open to the public and free.

After the movie, there will be discussion groups and various adult-led activities for a few hours.

Meacham hopes residents will come out to the kick-off event and help raise awareness. “Williamsburg is an amazing community that rallies together when our citizens are in trouble. It is our hope that people will come join us to give voices and support to those living in Avalon's shelter, in local hotels and campgrounds, and families doubled up in substandard housing who are experiencing homelessness.

“By participating in the Kick Off and supporting our youth as they prepare to experience their own One Night Without A Home, we hope to raise awareness and compassion for the homeless living among us.”

Various organizations which are acting as site sponsors will host groups of participants at locations around Williamsburg. They will settle into their boxes and sleeping bags by 10 p.m.

Police officers, who often have interactions with homeless people sleeping in inappropriate places, will also visit the different areas and wake up the participants as they would a real homeless person they might come across at night, according to an Avalon spokesperson.

The site sponsors will be on hand to make sure participants are safe, and Avalon representatives will be traveling to each area to visit and take photographs.

What does Meacham hope participants take away from their experience? “It is our hope that participants will carry the memory of their experience with them throughout their lives and that it will inform the choices they make as a responsible future leaders of this community and the country,” she says.

“We know that experiencing homelessness in November is not going to be easy or comfortable for our participants. At times, I promise you that our participants are going to want to go home and climb into bed. And in those dark moments over the 12 hours they are homeless, we are asking them to remember those who do not have an option of going home when it gets too cold, too tough, or too lonely to carry on.”

The kick-off event will begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with a rally at William and Mary’s Lake Matoaka Amphitheater. For details, visit Avalon’s website.