Manchester – They are doing this to raise awareness and funds to aid at-risk youth, support Waypoint’s new youth shelter and resource centers, and to take the next step toward ending youth homelessness in New Hampshire.
This year’s SleepOut will be held remotely, with registered sleepers spending the night of March 25 outdoors, at a place of their choosing, such as a back yard, and coming together for a shared virtual experience online. The online event will also be livestreamed on the agency’s Facebook page.
Approximately 15,000 youth are likely to experience some form of homelessness in New Hampshire this year. Last year, Waypoint had nearly 1,500 contacts with youth who were on the streets and flying under the radar in the Granite State. The Agency’s continuum of services for these young people includes survival aid / basic needs relief, intensive case management, and services that contribute to long-term stability and self-sufficiency, such as educational support, job and life skills training, housing, driver’s ed., counseling, access to mental health and addiction treatment services, and more.
This year, funds raised through SleepOut will help to sustain existing services, and subsidize expansion of services throughout the state, including drop-in centers in Rochester and Concord, and an overnight shelter for young people in Manchester, the first of its kind in the state.
Registration for SleepOut is still open. To register or to donate, or to get further information about the event, the cause, and the agency, visit www.waypointnh.org/sleepout2022. To see who is sleeping out: https://tinyurl.com/SleepOut-2022
SleepOut 2022 major sponsors include PROCON, Bank of America, Alumni Ventures Group, Rock 101/iHeart Radio, People’s United Bank, Elektrisola, McLean Communications, Velcro, M&T Bank, Bob’s Furniture, WMUR-TV, and Elliot Hospital.