On November 6th, 2015 members of National Avenue Christian Church gathered for the Rare Breed Sleep Out! The Seventh Annual Sleep Out, hosted by the The Kitchen Inc.’s Rare Breed Youth Services, invites youth to sleep outside on a chilly November night. It's a family-friendly event where participants spend the night in cardboard houses they build to simulate the experience of youth homelessness. There is a cardboard house building competition and prizes for the team and individuals who raise the most money.

Throughout the night, we were treated to soup, bread, cookies, and hot chocolate as well as games. One of the best parts of the event is that youth who attend the Breed on a regular basis come and spend time in community with those participating in the Sleep Out. We had the opportunity to get to know our neighbors and hear about their experiences. Our group spent hours constructing a cardboard mansion for our shelter for the night. Sleeping in the makeshift cardboard shelter in the cold gave us a little insight into what too many of our neighbors experience in our community. The next morning one parent noted, as he packed up his kids to go home and sleep in his warm bed, the youth from the Breed were loading the bus with an uncertain future ahead. We are grateful for the work of Rare Breed and this experience. We know we have a lot of work to do to make sure everyone has a home in our community!

Our group was able to raise over $2,000 to support the work at Rare Breed. To find our more about Rare Breed visit: http://www.thekitcheninc.org/rare-breed-youth-services.html.

Story and photos courtesy of
Tulley Beard, NACC Youth Intern