Dozens braved the rain and slept in a ‘tent city’ in solidarity with Macon’s homeless
At 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, about 100 people streamed through the doors of Daybreak, a day center for the homeless in downtown Macon.
As raindrops pitter-pattered outside, retirees, college students, Daybreak clients and families with children chatted over small styrofoam bowls of chili and chowder, enjoying a few moments of warmth before spending the night in a makeshift tent city outside.
Thursday marked Daybreak’s sixth-annual Greater Macon Sleepout, an event that raises both funds and awareness to support Bibb County’s estimated 310 homeless residents. Participants raise money to sleep outside in solidarity with those who spend every night without shelter.
Camping out in a tent for a night is not the same as being homeless, said Jessica Dorsey, director of annual giving and events for Daybreak’s parent organization, Depaul USA. The Sleepout, she said, is meant to be a night of reflection.
“We just want this to be a space and a night where you really reflect on, ‘I just have to do this for one night. I just have to be in this tent and be outside for one night, and I know that, at the end of this event, I get to go home and have a shower and sleep in my bed that night. I don’t have to worry about being safe. I don’t have to worry about being too hot or too cold,’ she said.
Dorsey hopes one night in the elements helps those at the Sleepout better understand the uncertainty Daybreak’s clients face each day.
Participants came from across Middle Georgia to support Daybreak. The event raises about a third of the center’s annual operating budget, Dorsey said. This year, participants raised about $143,000.
A few minutes before 7 p.m., five college students assembled tents on the lawn. They’d spent the past few weeks raising money of behalf of the First Baptist Church of Christ and hoped sleeping out would help them appreciate all they have to be thankful for.
“Just experiencing inconveniences of staying out here, even though they’re not even close to representing what homeless people go through, will just show us that there are people who don’t get the privileges that we get on a daily basis,” said Phoebe Capps, a student at Mercer University.
A team of psychiatry residents from Coliseum Medical Centers had just finished setting up their campsite as the rain began to taper off around dinner time. The residents raised nearly $3,000 for the hospital’s team.
The mental health care providers often refer their patients to Daybreak for services. Sleeping out, they thought, would provide some insight into what their patients experience when they leave the hospital, said Brielle Marks, a first-year resident who spearheaded the team’s fundraising efforts.
People don’t wake up one day and decide they want to be homeless, Marks said. Many, she said, suffer with mental illness and addiction disorders.
“There’s a stigma behind it, and we need to make the best effort we can to break that wall down, grow as a community and realize that these are illnesses, regardless,” Marks said. “And that we need to work together as a community to build each other up and help one another.”
Daybreak treats its clients with love, said Lisa Cannon, a former client who spoke during the opening program. When Cannon fled an abusive relationship and had nowhere to go, the staff and volunteers at Daybreak welcomed her with a hug.
Two years later, Cannon manages a store and has a place to stay. Hers is just one of dozens of Daybreak success stories.
About 100 clients pass through the center’s doors each weekday. In 2018, 41 clients found housing and 39 secured jobs.
A peaceful night in tent city
After the opening festivities, participants dispersed. Inside, former Daybreak client Stan Jones played piano while others chatted and stowed away leftovers from dinner.
A few Daybreak regulars lounged in cushy leather chairs and sipped on hot coffee, a rare treat on a weeknight when the center would normally be closed. While Sleepout participants slept outside, Daybreak clients were invited to spend the night indoors.
On the lawn, Sleepout participants gathered around fire pits, roasting marshmallows and sharing stories by the warm glow. Rabbi Aaron Rubinstein of Congregation Shaarey Israel played Billy Joel’s “The Piano Man” on the accordion as others sang along, their faces illuminated by the glow of their cellphones.
The air was cool and thick with fog, but the glowing fire radiated warmth, and participants didn’t seem to mind lingering outside past their normal bedtimes.
By midnight, most participants had settled back in their tents. Otis Redding played softly over a set of speakers, until a passing train drowned them out.
As the morning light tried to peek through heavy clouds, people began to roll up their sleeping bags and dismantle their tents, which had been drenched by rain in an overnight thunderstorm. They waded through murky puddles along the line and filed back into the day center, where a warm breakfast of eggs and biscuits awaited them.
Soon, Sleepout participants would pack back into their cars and drive home, back to their normal lives. They had kids to take to school and jobs to rush off to and errands to run.
But for a few more moments, participants, volunteers and Daybreak clients gathered together in a cozy room with plenty of food. No one seemed to be in a rush to leave the little safe haven on Walnut Street, just yet.
Samantha Max is a Report for America corps member and reports for The Telegraph with support from the News/CoLab at Arizona State University. Follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/smax1996 and on Twitter @samanthaellimax. You can also join her Facebook group. Learn more about Report for America at www.reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 6:49 PM.
