CAMDEN – It wasn’t the best of nights for camping on Friday, November 9. Cold rain and high winds rocked the Midcoast; nonetheless, 20 tents dotted the Village Green to help bring awareness to the issues of homelessness and to begin National Hunger and Homeless Week with the Knox County Homeless coalition.

Joseph Hufnagel runs The Landing Place in Rockland. It’s a drop-in center for the area’s youth, with an outreach service. The Landing Place eventually hopes to offer overnight facilities. A number of youth from The Landing Place participated in the overnight stay on the Camden Village Green.

“It was an experience,” Hufnagel said. “It was a rough one, very wet and wild. We had eight youth from the Landing Place. They got through the night. They were incredibly brave; two of our tents collapsed. No one got very much sleep, but it was an experience and I’m glad we were here.”

Hufnagel said a lot of people were up early and gone.

“We watched people come and go,” he said. “Some people’s shelters were better then others. It was a hard night to camp and it makes you appreciate having a home.”

Becca Gildred, director of development for KCHC, said she believed it was a roaring success.

“We had a number of teams that made it through the night,” she said. “Over two dozen people survived the event and I did have somebody ask me if the event would be altered because of the weather. I said absolutely not. Homelessness is not altered because of the weather. Each and every one of them are troopers for having stuck it out.”

Gildred said they were able to get all group activities done before the rain hit.

“We had small group discussions on what homelessness looked like around here, and how we can increase awareness about homelessness,” she said. “We had an empathy station were we served some hot food and drinks before people went to bed.”

Gildred said they set up 318 luminaries around the Village Green to emphasis KCHC’s current case load.

“On any given night here in the Midcoast, KCHC is actively working to house up to 160 people, who are homeless,” she said. “We serve Knox, Waldo and Lincoln counties and the other half of those 318 are in our after-care program, meaning we’ve recently housed them and are working with them for a year or so to help them gain the skills to maintain their longterm independence.”

The event was the kickoff to National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, November 10-16.

Organizers of the sleep-out asked participants to bring only what they could carry in and carry out in one ar- load. It was intended to be a leave-no-trace event. Saturday morning participants were invited into the Chestnut Street Baptist Church for a typical breakfast of what a homeless person might expect.

The church offered bathroom use, as well.

There were a number of local businesses who helped back and sponsor the event. Visit KCHC for a full list of those who helped and other ways to help support the coalition’s efforts..