New Life Center Volunteer Raise Homelessness Awareness By Sleeping Outside

There is more than 1,000 people without a home in the F-M area.

FARGO, N.D. – In an effort to raise awareness, a group of six volunteers from the Fargo New Life Center will be sleeping in tents each night until Giving Hearts on Thursday.

“It’s not to say, hey look at us, we’re homeless, but it’s just to draw attention to the fact that there are many individuals who struggle with homes, and this is a chance for us to bring awareness to the homelessness issue in the Fargo-Moorhead area,” says Jay Thoreson, Volunteer for “Tent City” at Fargo New Life Center.

The organization says there’s a misconception on what it means to be homeless and they hope that by doing this event more people know that homelessness can affect anyone know matter where you come from.

“One of the things about homelessness is that it’s extremely lonely. To know there’s someone that’s willing to join with your suffering or to help carry your burden, it really unites people. And that’s why something like this is really important,” says Rob Swiers, the Executive Director at Fargo New Life Center.

They say the impact the organization has had on the community members, is what keeps them going.

“We get a small donation on a regular basis from someone who lives down in Iowa, and I reached out to this gentleman to find out why are you from Iowa sending us a donation. And he said his dad was helped here in the 1940s and as a way to honor his dad the impact that made on his family, because he said he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the fact that this organization was around. So, that’s a long term historical story of the impact and the trajectory it makes in someone’s life,” Swiers says.