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Annual SleepOut raises awareness for youth homelessness

By Sophie Wheeler 3 min read

VIENNA - The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia held the 11th annual Parkersburg SleepOut fundraiser Saturday in an effort to bring awareness and understanding of those experiencing homelessness.

The event at the Jackson Park ball fields included musical performances and a community dinner, with Old Man Rivers food bank, and a boxed-in design contest. The event is the main fundraiser for Children's Home Society for their match of federal grants for the transitional living program for youth.

Michelle Pritchett, SleepOut coordinator and transitional living social worker, said the core mission is to provide perspective on the difficulties faced by individuals experiencing homelessness.

"It takes a lot of ingenuity and willpower, within yourself, to be able to survive on the streets," she said.

She said the boxed-in design contest shows that ingenuity. Teams create structures out of cardboard, either for someone’s comfort or based on the theme, which this year was "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass." It was chosen to emphasize "life is always about perspective and how you respond to it," said Pritchett.

She said SleepOut is an all-weather event, so even with the rain on Saturday the event was still in full swing.

"If you're on the street, you don't have the option to just forget that it's pouring down (rain) and flooding," she said, "I think it gives people an opportunity to see the obstacles they have to face that you don't really think about."

The event featured Skylar Sams, 22, who spoke about her experiences with homelessness after the loss of her grandmother and how the transitional living program provided support to keep her off the streets.

Matthew Moore, an employee of Children's Home Society of West Virginia, spoke on his experiences growing up with homelessness and "how much easier (my life) would have been if (I'd) known about a program like this when (I) was young."

The event works as a bridge program, to protect youth experiencing homelessness from drug use, human trafficking and exploitation.

"We always have speakers that share their experiences, to teach the community how important it is to start early with helping youth to have a better life, so they don't end up chronically on the streets," Pritchett said.

Pritchett said seeing individuals who were part of the program, now in better places in their lives is why she stays involved.

"The neatest part about Saturday, and the reason I keep doing this, is because it funds a program that really makes a difference," she said, "I had kids who were in the program five to seven years ago that brought their own children to the SleepOut to show what they went through. They’re in a good place now because of the program and the hard work they did."

Sophie Wheeler can be reached at swheeler@newsandsentinel.com.

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