Having friends and family scattered over the floor and draped on couches can be a fun sleepover idea, but Maple Grove resident Melissa Swoverland and her daughter Madi, 13, have more benevolent intentions in mind when they host Bedless Night to raise money for Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners, which helps those in need of stable housing.
For the event, which they’ve hosted for three years, friends and family spend the night at the Swoverlands’ home, sleeping on couches and the floor. Melissa and Madi are deeply familiar with that experience out of necessity. “We are passionate about Bedless Night because we once were ‘bedless’,” Melissa says. “I remember the Christmas Eve we slept on a couch in a friend’s basement. During this trial is when we were introduced to Interfaith Outreach. They changed our lives and gave me the hope and resources I needed.” Deb Sakry Lande of Interfaith says, “This is their way of giving back.”
The mother-daughter duo also fill 300 bags of items, including tissues, water, cereal bars, socks, hand warmers, hats and gloves, for those in need.
On its end, Interfaith hosts Sleep Out. Participants sleep outside to raise money for the area’s homeless. The group reached its $2.6 million goal this year, according to Sakry Lande. “The winners are the 2,000 [plus] families helped through the various services [food, clothing, housing, transportation, job support, childhood education, etc.] they provide,” she says.
More information is available at iocp.org.
