When it come to homelessness, there's no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. Our community is coming together to elevate the awareness of local homelessness on Friday, October 16, from 6 pm to 6 am at Normandin Middle School with One Homeless Night ... is too many, a community camp out. Part of the elevation of this awareness, appropriately called Rise Up For Homes, will gather leaders from all sectors to join in solidarity, bringing the conversation to the next level while raising needed funds to support this effort. Chris Arsenault (aka Gazelle), FUN107 morning digital producer, and I will be sleeping outside with only the clothes on our back, in a cardboard box or small tent.

More than 60 people people struggled each night to find safe housing in New Bedford last year during the worst winter in recent memory. Can you imagine what it was like not to have a place to live in sub-freezing temperatures with two feet of snow on the ground? In a very small way, that's what this event is trying to show. A camp out raising awareness, sharing ideas, building relationships and raising funds to start eliminating homelessness in New Bedford, once and for all. To change our community, we must be good to those who can't repay us. If you would to help sponsor this event, visit www.riseupforhomes.com and make a donation online. You can also make checks available to Rise Up For Homes and mail it to First Citizens' Federal Credit Union, 200 Mill Rd., Suite 100, Fairhaven, MA 02719.

As one of my mentors once said, "At the end of life, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in". ― Mother Teresa

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