Many people in the community do not know when their next meal will be or if they will be warm enough at night in the winter.

On Nov. 20, Coordinated Assistance Ministries, or CAM, will be hosting their annual "Grate American Sleepout" on the parking lot at the corner of Market and Mulberry streets next to CAM in downtown Kokomo to give people a glimpse of what it is like being homeless.

The "sleepout" is a national event, however, CAM changed the name from 'great' to 'grate' to symbolize homeless sleeping over a city sewer grate, said Rev. Ruth Lawson, executive director of CAM. CAM is the only homeless day shelter in the Kokomo area.

Like previous years, this is a learning event for the participants and a fundraiser for CAM.

Through this event, individuals will learn what it is like being homeless for a night. The participants will walk around downtown to get a feel of being homeless, she said. The event runs from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Nov. 21.

Their first stop will be at the YMCA at 10 p.m. where they will be given their homeless identity.

"You may be a single-pregnant mother with three children, or maybe your electricity has been shut off, or you are a veteran living on disability pension," she said. "We give them different identities from our clients."

While at the YMCA, the participants will find out ways to seek solutions to their problems through organizations, such as the Gilead House, CAM and the Kokomo Rescue Mission, she said. From there, they will walk to the Center Township Trustees Office to find out the services they provide.

"This gives them the experience not only of their homeless identity and not only to know the agencies and not only experience on what it's like to sleep in a box in the cold, but the experience of walking in the cold from place to place to place," she said. "That's a part of being poor, it is the walking."

At midnight, the participants will begin building box houses out of refrigerator and oven boxes donated by various stores to sleep in for the night.

"We will give them cardboard boxes and tape to start putting their houses together for the night," she said. "And they set up their houses and sleeping bags on the parking lot."

The top people to raise money for CAM will have the option to sleep in the CAM van or on the porch of CAM, she said. Also at the site will be a Red Cross disaster vehicle that will serve soup and hot chocolate, she said.

If the weather is frigidly cold, she says they may move it indoors.

In the morning the participants will walk to the Kokomo Rescue Mission for breakfast and to discuss their experiences with each other, she said.

This activity has never raised much in terms of money for CAM, but she says it serves its purpose as a learning tool.

Those who are interested in participating are asked to call Rev. Ruth Lawson at 765-434-0687 to register and to get sponsor sheets by Nov. 17. All participants must be of high school age or older.

More about top

• ARTICLE: Perspective Preview February 8, 2010
• ARTICLE: NASA and GM Create Cutting Edge Robotic Technology
• ARTICLE: Western looks to avenge tournament loss to Taylor in conference fight Friday
• ARTICLE: Ahead of the curve
• ARTICLE: Perspective Preview February 01, 2010

More about cam

• ARTICLE: Kids care about CAM