Most people would likely do anything to avoid sleeping out in the cold, but a group of a few dozen people actually paid for the right to experience homelessness for a night.
The inaugural Promise House Sleep Out — dubbed "A Night Under the Stars" — raised more than $82,000 to benefit Promise House, an Oak Cliff nonprofit that provides resources for homeless youth and runaway teens.
"There are kids out there, there are adults out there that need our support," CEO of Promise House CEO Ashley Lind said.
Lind and several other community activists, business leaders and several teenagers stayed in the Promise House parking lot from 6 p.m Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday huddled near a small barrel fire, sleeping on cardboard boxes and in sleeping bags.
"There is no way that A Night Under the Stars can replicate the hopelessness that the 1,264 homeless youth on Dallas' streets experience every night," Lind said in a statement. "It merely simulates a small part and gives the sleepers a greater understanding of the harsh realities that homeless youth face."
Online: promisehouse.org
