{"id":237204,"date":"2014-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/withstanding-the-comforts-of-home\/"},"modified":"2014-10-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T07:00:00","slug":"withstanding-the-comforts-of-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/withstanding-the-comforts-of-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Withstanding the comforts of home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sleepless San Diego to return for 8th year<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Dave Fidlin<\/p>\n

The statistics remain startling.<\/p>\n

On any given night, around 8,500 men, women and children seek refuge across San Diego in cardboard boxes and other makeshift devices.<\/p>\n

Organizers behind an annual event are hoping to keep the reality of homelessness at the forefront of San Diegans\u2019 minds. The San Diego Rescue Mission\u2019s Sleepless San Diego event returns for its eighth consecutive year in mid-October.<\/p>\n

\"[DOWNTOWN]<\/a>
Sleepless San Diego participants get a cot and a box. (Courtesy San Diego Rescue Mission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>As has been the case in prior years, the crux of the event is an optional, overnight activity that gives participants an opportunity to sample homelessness \u2014 albeit in a sanitized environment that still provides such comforts as security, portable restrooms and an opportunity to partake in morning coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the real deal, and we know this,\u201d said Herb Johnson, president and CEO of SDRM. \u201cBut we are asking people to give up a night from the comforts of their own home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"[DOWNTOWN]<\/a>
Herb Johnson, president and CEO of SDRM. (Courtesy San Diego Rescue Mission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Johnson said there are a few surprises in store during this year\u2019s event, including a video shot by a sister organization in New York City that he almost guarantees will bring tears to participants\u2019 eyes.<\/p>\n

Other planned festivities include an art gallery and an opportunity to create care packages for people in need. Additionally, experts will be on hand to discuss the homeless epidemic and how San Diegans can pitch in and assist.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Sleepless San Diego program will again be held at Liberty Station within NTC Park in Point Loma. In prior years, the event was held in mid-September, but Johnson said a variety of factors \u2014 including cooler weather conditions \u2014 played into the decision to push it back a month.<\/p>\n

The 2014 Sleepless San Diego program officially kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, with an assortment of musical acts and educational videos. At 11 p.m., participants will be asked to unroll their sleeping bags and find a spot within a cordoned off area at Liberty Station.<\/p>\n

While Sleepless San Diego has been an intergenerational event since its inception, Johnson said it has historically drawn a large youth population. He estimates about 75 percent of the participants who take SDRM up on its offer to sleep outside are youth and college-age students.<\/p>\n

For this reason, he said a recurring theme this year will be the growth in the city\u2019s homeless student population.<\/p>\n

According to just-released numbers from the San Diego Unified School District, the number of reported homeless children has nearly doubled in year-to-year comparisons. In the 2013 \u2013 14 school year, SDUSD hosted upwards of 3,000 children who were classified as homeless. This year, the number has risen to 5,448.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis obviously is a very dramatic increase,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to talk with the students about this. We\u2019ll be saying, \u2018[Homeless children] are just like you. They just don\u2019t have a place to live.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"College<\/a>
College students show up in droves to participate. (Courtesy San Diego Rescue Mission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recognizing the growth of homeless families, earlier this month SDRM opened a new children\u2019s center at the organization\u2019s Elm Street facility Downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a daycare center,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s an educational facility for children in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proceeds from Sleepless San Diego benefit SDRM\u2019s ongoing initiatives and new programs, such as the children\u2019s center. With a swell in participation in recent years, Sleepless San Diego has turned out to be SDRM\u2019s largest annual fundraising effort.<\/p>\n

The main program offered by SDRM, founded nearly 60 years ago, is an intensive rehabilitation program that lasts from 12 to 16 months. About 400 people are part of the program at any given time.<\/p>\n

In addition to the children\u2019s center, SDRM has also recently begun a transformation housing center that includes 28 beds for women and 20 beds for men.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s designed to serve a much broader need for people who need shelter,\u201d Johnson said, pointing out that the transformation housing center differs from the intensive rehabilitation program.<\/p>\n

While he and other SDRM organizers have witnessed a number of triumphs in participants\u2019 lives, Johnson readily realizes there is still a significant amount of work needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very difficult because people can\u2019t live in this city on minimum wages,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe no longer have much of a manufacturing sector. There are people working two or three jobs and are still not making ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently revealed San Diego moved down a ranking \u2014 from third to fourth \u2014 for homelessness. But the overall numbers continue to hold steady. The city trails New York, Los Angeles and Seattle.<\/p>\n

The local rescue mission continues to evolve, Johnson said, but the overall mission statement remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to help bring creative solutions through meaningful programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The eighth annual Sleepless in San Diego will be held Saturday, Oct. 11 from 4:30 a.m. until Sunday, Oct. 12 at 8 a.m. Participants will sleep outside in the elements at NTC Park, located at 2455 Cushing Rd. at Liberty Station. For more information visit sleeplesssandiego.org<\/a>, sdrescue.org<\/a> or call 619-687-3720.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2014Dave Fidlin has been a professional journalist for more than a dozen years. Throughout his career, he has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines and websites across the nation. He has a special affinity for San Diego and its people. Contact him at <\/i>dave.fidlin@thinkpost.net<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sleepless San Diego to return for 8th year By Dave Fidlin The statistics remain startling. On any given night, around 8,500 men, women and children seek refuge across San Diego in cardboard boxes and other makeshift devices. Organizers behind an annual event are hoping to keep the reality of homelessness at the forefront of San […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Withstanding the comforts of home","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}