Thank you for your interested in media coverage of Care For Friends’ Sleepout For Homelessness!  Below are various video clips and other files you are free to use in assembling your coverage. You will find more, generalized content in the Care For Friends press kit.

To arrange an interview or access additional information about our event, please contact Care For Friends’ Executive Director:

Hope Pavich

hope@careForFriends.org

773.932.1010

Organization Overview

• Care For Friends has been serving those experiencing housing and food insecurity for over 55 years.

• The program started to immediately respond to the needs of students displaced by the unrest surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention..

• The arrival of migrants bussed from Texas at the direction of Governor Greg Abbott has increased the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Chicago by at least 15,000.

• COVID brought a 30% expansion in demand for our services. In addition to our “traditionally unhoused” folks, we saw an increase in “housed but unemployed” families approaching us for food, leading us to launch a mobile food pantry that serves 500+ families of CPS students facing food insecurity.

• Grocery delivery guests receive a month’s work of groceries delivered to their door each month.

• Organization has 12,500 contacts per year with housing insecure Chicagoans (appx 76,000 people will experience homelessness in Chicago this year).

• Many of our guests are afraid to access services from other organizations that can get them out of homelessness, because of rigorous sign-in requirements or requests for identification.

  • Within 3 weeks of becoming unhoused, even the most mentally healthy folks display signs of paranoia, those with prior brushes with the law or questionable immigration status are afraid to provide ID upon first contact

• We overcome those barriers by providing “no questions asked” hot meals three times per week, which also include representatives from partner organizations that guests are otherwise are afraid to access.

• At those meals, trusting relationships are developed, producing the following results:

  • Housing: over 30% of our guests get housing support through case management connections made at a CFF meal. 

  • Jobs: StreetWise conducts onsite orientations for our guests.

  • Sober Mental and Physical Health:  75% of our guests have now found a permanent medical home that is not the Emergency Department.

Event Overview

• In the spirit of our origins, we’re looking back to 1968, when Church of Our Saviour opened its doors during the unrest of the DNC. Youth seeking refuge from violence found sanctuary in the pews, spending the night under one roof. To honor this history, we’ll be holding our “Sleepout” inside the Church of the Atonement for an all-night event.

• Most are Chicagoans, though sleepers have come from as far away as Los Angeles and Boston.

• They are raising money to support the Care For Friends mission, including the expansion of services to support unhoused youth

• In 2020, the event shifted to accommodate COVID restrictions, where most sleepers took shelter in their own neighborhoods (including one who built an igloo in her backyard, as seen in the coverage below). Our “sleep at your home” option will continue to be a part of the event.

  • Candles will be kept lit from sunset to sunrise on the night of February 21st.

  • Supporters are coming to light a candle from the fire, and bring home to place in their windows, a beacon of hope for all who don’t have homes in this difficult time.

  • Many additional individuals are “sleeping out” near their own home (on porches, backyards, apartment courtyards, and the like).

  • They are also conducting a photo scavenger hunt in their neighborhoods, looking for places where a homeless person could find the resources they need for a night – posting to social media with #CFFSleeps

• Donations accepted at www.CFFSleeps.org

• Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter updates throughout the event are online using the hashtag #CFFSleeps

• This is the tenth year in a row of the Sleepout; we are aiming for a cumulative fundraise of $360,000.

Event Logistics:

• Location: 5749 N. Kenmore Avenue

• Event Timeline

  • Friday, February 21st:  7pm Program and Candle Lighting

  • 7:30 pm SMores and Hot Beverages Break

  • Candles remain lit until 6am

  • Saturday, February 21st: 6am Sunrise Breakfast

Other Background Materials

• Event Website:  www. CFFSleeps.org

• Organization Annual Report/Impacts Whitepaper

Can’t send a film crew out yourself?  Feel free to use any of the downloadable videos or still photos below: