Young people at Dover church to raise awareness about homeless
DOVER ‒ The young people of St. John's United Church of Christ will be camping out on the front lawn of the church Saturday night and Sunday morning to raise awareness about the homeless situation in Tuscarawas County.
They also will collect donations for the homeless shelter in New Philadelphia.
This is the 16th year that the church's youth group has done this.
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The kids will be spending the night in large appliance boxes, with fires to help keep them warm. They will be there from 6 p.m. Saturday until sometime Sunday morning.
Belinda Lentz, director of Christian education at St. John's, said the event is designed to show that the young people of the congregation care about the homeless. They also hope to demonstrate that the need is real for a new homeless shelter in Tuscarawas County.
The current shelter, operated by the Friends of the Homeless of Tuscarawas County at 211 E. High Ave., New Philadelphia, is in poor condition. The group has launched a fundraising campaign to build a new one.
"The homeless shelter has never gone away," Lentz said. "It's always been there, and now they desperately need a better place to host people. This is one more reason why we do it. We need to bring awareness to the homeless situation, but everybody knows we have homeless people here. But now we need a place to put them that's safe and clean and modern."
Several activities are planned for the kids while they are outside. Someone from the homeless shelter will be coming to speak to them and talk about the need for a new shelter. Lentz will take them on a walk through downtown Dover to find a place where they could stay if they were homeless.
They will also be taking donations for the homeless shelter from church members and members of the community who stop by during the evening. They will be collecting monetary donations, as well as cleaning supplies, bedding, personal hygiene items and canned food. Clothing will not be accepted.
In the morning, the young people will have breakfast, attend church and write about why they participated in the event and what it meant to them.
"I'm usually surprised about some of the things that I get from kids that don't seem to care a whole lot about things but they really do care," Lentz said.
The church is located at 409 N. Wooster Ave., Dover.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: St. John's United Church of Christ to raise awareness about homeless
