WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and patrons of the Shalom Community Center will sleep on the streets, this Friday night.
The solidarity sleep out aims to raise funding for the area emergency homeless shelter, and bring awareness to the experiences of the chronically homeless in Bloomington and the surrounding area.
Mayor Hamilton will be joined by City of Bloomington Communications Director Yael Ksander and area contributors on the grounds of First United Church on E. Third Street. Shalom Community Center Executive Director Reverend Forrest Gilmore says this is the first time Shalom Center has hosted a solidarity sleep out.
The danger of exposure and violence people experiencing homelessness often face will not be an issue for the patrons of Shalom, but the sleep out comes on heels of two deaths of transient men, who were found in wooded areas in Bloomington. Last month the body of a 29-year-old man was found in a wooded area on the city’s south side. The site is across the street from the Community Kitchen of Monroe County. The body of another man was discovered on the other side of town from where the mayor and Shalom patrons will be sleeping. Last week, a 42-year-old man was found dead inside a tent in a wooded area off of West Third Street. The area is near Wheeler Mission, an emergency shelter for homeless men. Gilmore says there are about 340 people experiencing homelessness in Bloomington, on any given day.
The City of Bloomington named homelessness, poverty, drug dependency and mental illness as the city’s major challenges, in 2017. The city’s Safety, Civility and Justice Task Force identified a lack of resources for those experiencing homelessness as a major challenge to addressing homelessness in the downtown.
The solidarity sleep out event starts at 8 p.m. Friday and ends at 8 a.m. the following day.
