Local shelter-sponsored encampment offers ‘light glimpse’ to the life of homeless people
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POCATELLO — A locally operated shelter is again holding a long-running event that aims to raise awareness to the experience of homeless people.
Aid for Friends, a homeless shelter operated in Pocatello, will be holding its 18th annual Homeless Encampment on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8 at Caldwell Park, where members of the community will eat together, sit around a bonfire and then sleep outside in a box. While people in attendance will see what it feels like to not have a roof over their heads, it will only be for a night.
“We get a very, very light glimpse of (homelessness) as we participate in this event,” said Tami Moore, the Aid for Friends shelter manager and chairperson of the Homeless Encampment Committee. “There’s so much that is involved in just being able to survive a cold night.
For people who plan to sleep overnight, they’ll receive survival training in order to make sure they’re prepared to brave the elements for the night at the Central Christian Church at 918 East Center Street. The training will begin at noon and lunch will be provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
One lesson people will learn is how important it is to make sure your socks are dry, Moore said, otherwise “you will freeze throughout the night.”
“These are things that we get to prepare for but our homeless population does not. They just have to wing it and hope that they’re doing the right thing to be able to survive another night without shelter,” Moore said.
Those who are sleeping at the encampment will also collect donation pledges from individuals and businesses in the community to raise money for the shelter. People who aren’t able to sleep at the encampment can support Aid for Friends by making a donation.
“We’re asking (questions) like, what would you pay to stay at a hotel for a night? What would you do to prevent having to sleep out overnight on the street or in the park?” Moore said.
After this, local Boy Scouts will prepare a homemade beef stew for participants at around 5:30 p.m. A band called The Greens will also perform.
“Then after, we go back out to the park, and we have a bonfire there,” Moore said. “(Then we) just talk and socialize. Whenever anybody’s ready to go to bed, they just go ahead and crawl in their box and go to bed.”
This year, the encampment is being held in honor of BJ Stensland, the previous director who started the event.
“She started this whole thing and has had such a passion for it, and so we are dedicating this year… to her for all the hard work she’s done to make this happen for us,” Moore said.
Having the encampment in Caldwell Park also shows the public what would happen if Aid For Friends didn’t offer people experiencing homelessness a safe bed to sleep in.
“We would see these tent cities in our parks… if we did not have a place for our homeless to go,” Moore said.
Moore feels it’s also important for people to understand that many different types of people experience homelessness.
“There is no specific group that creates the homeless population. We have seen many hardships. We’ve seen many people come through,” Moore said.
Moore hopes that this continuing event will help more people have empathy for the homeless population and make a donation to assist Aid For Friends in keeping a roof over their heads.
“We have a homeless population here in Pocatello. It is growing, which means we need to make sure that these doors stay open,” Moore said.