http://steinbachonline.com/local/local-ceos-to-experience-homelessness
Category: Local News
Published: Thursday, 15 September 2016 10:32
Written by Daryl Braun
More than 40 community leaders in Steinbach will participate in the CEO Sleepout Thursday night. They will sleep outdoors at K.R. Barkman Park, next to the fire hall, to experience what it's like to have nowhere to live. Simone Penner of Today House, a local shelter for the homeless, says the annual event generates awareness about the plight of the homeless and is also their only fundraising event of the year.
Irene Kroeker, an outreach worker in Steinbach, says this is a good exercise.
"I'm excited that other people are actually going to experience a little bit about what all those people we deal with experience. And, it's been a little cold lately."
Kroeker says, as part of the experience, they will profile some of the real life local stories about homeless people in Steinbach and have the CEOs put themselves in those shoes and see how they'd respond.
"We are going to experience, vicariously, about 15 different scenarios about people that we have helped, 100% true, and they will read about it and then we will ask them some questions to see how they would be able to problem-solve if they were that person."
For example, Kroeker says it's not so easy to go out and look for a job when you've spent the night outdoors and your biggest concerns are getting something to eat and figuring out where you'll sleep the next night. She notes this tends to open a lot of eyes to the plight of the homeless and the challenges they face.
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