Cardboard Mattress

It’s the first night of THREE-OH-WE-GO for the season. The temperature is rapidly approaching freezing outside. The decline this night came very suddenly.

When the team arrived at the church building’s steps, our last stop of the night, I beheld a sight like I had not seen before. There were so many people sleeping out in the cold, 50 plus. Last year at this stop there was about one half the number of people. We quickly went to work passing out blankets, gloves, socks, and hand warmers to the homeless men and women sleeping on the church building’s steps.

One young lady had not “bedded down” yet and was up on her feet stumbling around. I went to her and asked her name. Through her broken speech, she said… “My name is Sweat Pea.” I asked if she was prepared for the coming freeze. She said she wasn’t and, “needed to find cardboard.”

Cardboard??? Yes, cardboard. You see, the first step in going to sleep on the cold concrete is putting down a layer of cardboard first. And Sweat Pea was without…

++++

When I first began working with people living homeless I once asked someone, “why do you sleep on cardboard?” His response to me was simple yet profound. He said, “Have you ever tried sleeping on concrete?” He went on to add, “It’s hard.”

That made a lot of sense. The cardboard mattress works as a means of padding and insulation against the cold ground. Additionally it keeps bugs and other things away from one’s body while sleeping.

++++

… I quickly began the hunt of trying to find this young lady some cardboard so she could settle down and go to sleep. I asked one man if I could have some of his cardboard and he refused. I continued to search until finally I found plenty to make up a simple mattress.

I asked Sweat Pea where she wanted to lay down. She searched the church steps for a few minutes before finally choosing a spot near the corner of the building. I laid out the cardboard and began to create her bed for the night. I took a blanket and laid it on the top of the cardboard and asked her if that was going to work.

She said it would and began to lay down. A few others from the team covered her up with several more blankets and then we wished her a good night and left.

++++

This story plays itself out time and time again. The city of Atlanta’s homeless population continues to grow day by day. According to a recently published homeless census for the Metro Atlanta area, there are “more people living on the streets of Atlanta this year than at any other time in the last decade.”

I share this for two reasons….

First… You can join the THREE-OH-WE-GO team and help rescue homeless men and women from sleeping out in the cold. For this one young lady, Sweat Pea, there are probably 10 others that we did not get too. We need your help! Text “alarm” to 63566 or visit ThreeOhWeGo.com to sign up to receive GO-Night Alerts.

Second… Every day, the burden in my heart grows stronger and stronger to want to do something to help “end homelessness” across Atlanta. I am trying to stop these stories from happening. I don’t want to do THREE-OH-WE-GO anymore. Not because I don’t enjoy helping these people, but… I just wish they were not there in the first place.

So many people have said that ending homelessness is not possible. I must agree, the complication of this issue makes even me, at times, feel like it is an impossible fight. However, it is the war I have been created to wage. I am now working harder than ever to develop an idea that can bring us one step closer to ending homelessness in Atlanta. I look forward to sharing more about this in time.