Chicago's Big Sleep Out
- Tiffany Connolly
- Sep 18, 2019
- 2 min read
DePaul University will host Chicago’s Big Sleep Out on Saturday, December 7, 2019 in Lincoln Park, Illinois. As part of the world’s largest display of solidarity and support of global street homelessness – The World's Big Sleep Out (WBSO), this event aims to raise awareness and funds to help more than 8,000 Chicagoans who are living without shelter. On this night, people will join each other to learn about lived experiences of homelessness; learn and share their knowledge about homelessness and current efforts to solve the issue; and enjoy various talents. Participants will see special video messages from local and international celebrities, including Will Smith and Dame Helen Mirren, who will participate in the global event by telling a bedtime story in Times Square in New York and Trafalgar Square in London, respectively. As an urban university, DePaul is deeply involved in the life of a global community. It assists in finding just solutions to community problems, especially those which impact our most vulnerable neighbors.
All of the funds raised from this event will go towards ending homelessness. Two local charities that will benefit from the funds raised from the sleep out are All Chicago – who leads more than 70 partner organizations in a city-wide effort to prevent and end homelessness, and
Depaul USA – who provides housing, case management, counselling and financial assistance with books, food and school expenses, for homeless and housing insecure university students in Chicago.
The World’s Big Sleep Out campaign is founded by Josh Littlejohn MBE, the co-founder of the charity Social Bite - based in Scotland. The initiative is run in partnership with the Institute for Global Homelessness (IGH), UNICEF USA, Malala Fund and Robin Hood NYC. Chicago, USA; Belfast, Ireland; Viña del Mar, Chile; Hong Kong, China; San José, Costa Rica; and Brisbane, Australia are among the many cities that will be hosting local sleep outs on December 7, 2019. The aim of the global initiative is to raise awareness of the issue and funds towards solutions to end homelessness worldwide.
There are several ways to participate in the WBSO. You can host a sleep out in your hometown, join a sleep out near you or donate to support the campaign. Funds raised will be allocated to homelessness in two ways – 50 percent will go to local charities helping homelessness and 50 percent will go to charities helping some of the 70.1 million people displaced globally - who have lost their homes through war, natural disasters, or extreme poverty.
Visit our Twitter and FAQs page for more information and follow #Bigsleepout on Twitter for campaign updates.
If you would like to get in touch regarding Chicago's Big Sleep Out,
please email us at chicago@bigsleepout.com
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