Place: akron ohio
From Nov 22, 2023, 1:00 PM to Nov 23, 2023, 9:00 AM
Spend the night before Thanksgiving in a tent in Akron to support Akron's homeless community. Reserve your spot on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/randys-homeless-night-before-thanksgiving-sleepout-tickets-743502545127?aff=oddtdtcreator Spend the night before Thanksgiving in a tent in Akron to support Akron's homeless community... all run by expert urban camper Randy and his fellow expert urban camping tour guides. Randy might be one of the most interesting people you will ever meet in your life. He grew up as a thief in a family of thieves. He did LONG bits for his heists. Most notably he spent 18 years in the old Mansfield penitentiary. He was even an extra in a movie that was filmed there. He got out in 2005 and has been homeless ever since. He doesn't much care for living inside. It makes him claustrophobic after spending all those years in a prison cell. I (Sage Lewis) have been toying with the idea of doing a group sleepout in Akron in solidarity with our homeless neighbors. Other cities do them occasionally. I have always had 2 main concerns: safety and exploitation. And honestly, exploitation is the biggest one. I've slept out in Akron a few times. It's scary. I don't find it enjoyable at all. But even one night out will make you appreciate what it feels like being cold and alone on the streets of Akron, a truly dangerous city. But, the exploitation... that was fully in my hands. Would I be doing something that demeaned the homeless community while making a bunch of middle class people feel like they are getting to "experience" homelessness? That was the biggest issue for me. So, that is where this idea has sat in my head for a couple years. As I evolve I am really focused on being the survival gear guy. I am focused on supplying people with tents, tarps, sleeping bags, blankets, coats, hats, gloves, rope, tent stakes, hand warmers... stuff that will keep you alive in the wilderness (which is what cities have become for people we call homeless). I need to get more of that stuff. I do a drive for those items on Christmas Eve when I sleep out in solidarity with homeless pregnant women. But it's getting cold right now and I need stuff as soon as possible. So, I thought I might be able to make an outing to get a taste of homelessness while also doing a drive for donations. We were having our Sunday morning Toast and Toppins' yesterday and I brought this up to the group. Randy IMMEDIATELY said he wanted to run it. He said he's always wanted a reality TV show about his life. He rightfully thinks you wouldn't believe it if you saw his life. On top of that, several other people wanted in on it too. They immediately had all sorts of ideas of things we could do. So it's official: We are going to run our first homeless excursion this coming Night Before Thanksgiving. I think we could call the entire thing: Randy's Homeless Encounters. (They literally had SO many ideas of where this all could go.) I will be purchasing the first tent (there are only 10 total). Depending on how many people come will depend on how many additional tour guides we will have. Each group (it can be one or two people) costs $50. All the money goes to the tour guides who have lived homeless in the woods of Akron for years (if not decades). If you do this, I guarantee you are going to feel a whole new level of thanks when you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner the next day. We will be meeting at the yard beside 85 Kent Place in Akron. You can park there. And then we will be hiking out to our campsite that Randy will choose for this event. We will not be going to an area that could cause trouble for current homeless people. It will be one of the several places Randy uses for his personal spots. You will need to be in shape enough to walk about 15 minutes in some pretty rugged terrain with all your gear. I'd recommend putting it all in a trash bag and carrying it over your shoulder to get the full experience. I don't think you can bring anything with wheels because a cart likely won't be able to make to where we are going. But you certainly could try. You should anticipate some steep climbs both up and down. You could wear hiking boots or really good winter boots. I'd recommend you bring these things: A tent. 2 tarps... one for underneath your tent and one for over top your tent. extra tent stakes. Good tent stakes are the secret to happy camping if you ask me. extra rope to tie things down. A knife REALLY warm blankets or a 30 or below sleeping bag. A mat to sleep on. The earth will suck the warmth right out of you. A bunch of layers of clothes. Something to sit on... the ground will be wet. So a piece of plastic or garbage bags. But if you can sling a camp chair over your arm... more power to you. (I'm going to try to bring mine.) You will also need to bring food and water. If you can bring enough for one meal and a little bit to share that would be great. You can get everything at Walmart or Amazon. NOTHING WILL BE PROVIDED. Don't plan on us bringing any extra items. What you can carry is what you will live with that night. There might be some outings provided by the tour guides... all of them have years of experience living this life. The people we have in mind are all my friends. They are truly wonderful people. You will have a great time with them. I have so far heard about "flying a sign" and dumpster diving. So you might get to take part in those activities. But there is no guarantee. People who have lived for years on the street are a lot like the wind. They very well might just wander off and then expect to go out at 2 in the morning and wonder why you aren't interested. I truly don't know what will happen. I can't guarantee your safety out there. I'll probably make you sign a waiver that we aren't responsible for anything that could happen on this encounter. That's just a nature of something like this. But they have lived out there for years and I've done it several times. It can be done. I will be with you for the entire journey. There are dangerous people out there. But typically they are dangerous to people who have wronged them in some way. The bigger issue is theft. Homeless people CONSTANTLY have their belongings stolen from them. We don't really have pick pockets. But we do definitely have opportunists. If something is laying around it very likely could get taken. COST: It costs $50 for the excursion. That can include 1 or 2 people. 100% of that money goes to the tour guides who have lived this life for many years. You must bring all your supplies with you. You will hike them in and then in the morning you will hike them out. We would love for you to purchase all the items for this event and then donate them to the homeless community at the end of the encounter. But if you bring your own survival gear and don't want to donate it that is ok too. As a camper, I can tell you that there is nothing quite like sleeping in a crappy Walmart tent in the winter. Those are the tents all homeless people use (if they are lucky enough to have a tent). No one has anything remotely like a Northface or REI tent. (Also, I would not bring good gear into the woods in a city. It could get stolen or damaged really easily.) So, the real experience is to buy a 2 man or 4 man tent from Walmart and then cover it with a tarp. That's the life of homeless people... if they are lucky enough to even get those things. NOTHING WILL BE SUPPLIED FOR YOU. You must hike in all your food and supplies. And you must hike it out in the morning. There are only 10 tent spaces available. And I've already bought the first one. So now there are only 9 left. You can buy the space now and determine who you want to go later. There is also a donation "ticket" here. If you would like to donate to the Church of the Nomadic Spirit for purchasing food and supplies for homeless people you can do so with that feature. You can also purchase shelter items directly on our Amazon shopping list by clicking here. These items will be distributed to people who need them. As a person who has done this a few times, I can tell you that it will deeply affect you. Even one night camping in a city is an experience unlike any other. (I camped in Yellowstone while there was a murderous bear on the loose and felt safer doing that than camping in Akron.) I think you will find this humbling and eye-opening. There are only 9 tickets left. Reserve your space today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/randys-homeless-night-before-thanksgiving-sleepout-tickets-743502545127?aff=oddtdtcreator