ADRIAN — Three participants. Three tents. Three days. Mission accomplished.

Share the Warmth of Lenawee, the county’s homeless shelter that is based in Adrian, not too long ago concluded a first-of-its-kind fundraiser for the shelter that saw three members of Share the Warmth’s board of directors living outside for three consecutive December days.

One of those participating board members, Henry Burrece, referred to the fundraising campaign — “72 Hours to Share the Warmth” — as a “social experiment” designed to bring awareness to the growing homeless population in Lenawee County and to raise money or needed items for the shelter, 427 W. Maumee St.

On top of those lessons to be taken away from the fundraiser, organizers and Share the Warmth leadership and staff were hoping people would get an idea of the struggles homeless individuals endure, especially during the harsher winter months.

“72 Hours to Share the Warmth” began Dec. 19 and concluded at 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 22. Throughout the journey, which featured Burrece bunking outdoors with Share the Warmth of Lenawee’s chairman of the board of directors Mike Hendershot, and its vice chairman Dan Thomas, the participants were connected to those at home through livestreamed updates and videos that were posted to Share the Warmth’s Facebook page and its website, stwlenawee.org.

More: Share the Warmth of Lenawee’s ’72 Hours to Share the Warmth’ raising homelessness awareness

The final night of the campaign fell on the first night of winter, Dec. 21, which is known as the winter solstice and is the longest night of the year.

By the end of the fundraiser, the participants and shelter staff were overrun with emotion and gratitude for how Lenawee County responded to the request of assistance for the homeless and unsheltered.

“I’m humbled,” Hendershot repeated several times the evening of Dec. 21, when Share the Warmth hosted a fireside chat about homelessness complete with holiday treats and s’mores. “… I’m fortunate that I have never needed to be outside before in my life, at least involuntarily.”

The community opened its wallets, its heart and showed up for the mission of Share the Warmth of Lenawee, he said.

“We didn’t have any expectations of what to expect.”

A personal goal was set of raising cash donations and goods of at least $100 an hour for 72 hours. That would equate to $7,200 in donations.

“I’m happy to say that we far exceeded that goal,” he informed a group of gatherers Thursday night, Dec. 21, during the fireside chat.

Donations from the community continued all three days of the fundraiser with people bringing in food, hats, coats, gloves, backpacks, blankets, pillows, etc. Through outreach efforts, 42 unsheltered individuals in Lenawee County were given items, including at least 15 tents that were donated by the Blissfield Boy Scouts Troop 8.

“That was a big component of this, was to get people out of the woods and to a place where they can get a blanket or something to eat. We had company every night around the fire when we were out here,” Hendershot said. “I don’t want to say it was fun, but it was an experience I won’t soon forget.”

Breaking misconceptions about homelessness

Jeremy Norton, the lead shelter assistant at Share the Warmth, who works second shift, is the person responsible for coming up with the idea of living outside to raise awareness of homelessness.

His original idea for the concept was just himself setting up a tent in the parking lot of the shelter and living outside during the longest night of the year, the first day of winter. In conversations he had with board members and Shannon DeSloover, Share the Warmth of Lenawee’s executive director, the plan ballooned to bringing on the involvement of the three board members and sponsorship participation from the Michigan Army National Guard and Red Lobster, Buffalo Wild Wings, Applebee’s, Meijer and Lowe’s, all of Adrian.

The fundraiser provided an opportunity for the guests of the shelter to enjoy snacks, holiday treats and to receive firsthand some of the donated items, including socks, gloves, hats and mittens.

At one point in his life, Norton was functionally homeless for eight-nine months, he said. He was living in someone’s basement on a cot. He said he understands the struggles many of the shelter’s guests have been through and will continue to face on their road to recovery.

Disabilities and mental health are some of the issues affecting the guests, and because of those issues, such individuals tend to fall through the cracks when it comes to getting back on their feet, Norton said.

There are misconceptions within the community that people residing at Share the Warmth are lazy or that they don’t want to work. Both Hendershot and Norton said they want to do what they can to dispel any of those misconceptions from further spreading.

“We actually have a lot of working poor here at the shelter. Housing is very expensive in Adrian and in (Lenawee) County. We have a lot of trauma that people are dealing with at the shelter. There is some addiction here, there’s no doubt about that. It’s certainly not laziness that gets someone here. That’s what I want people to understand. This building does not house lazy people. This building houses broken people and it houses people who are on their way up not down,” Hendershot said.

Share the Warmth of Lenawee offers agency assistance and programming to support its residents. That assistance is provided by such nonprofit agencies as the Lenawee Continuum of Care, Housing Help of Lenawee, Community Action Agency, Pathways Recovery Engagement Center, Inter-Connections, Community Mental Health Authority and others.

The giving and generosity can continue

Even though the holidays are winding down and “72 Hours to Share the Warmth” concluded a handful of days before Christmas, that doesn’t mean collections of donations have stopped.

Share the Warmth, like many other nonprofits, is reliant on donations and the generosity of community. The giving doesn’t have to stop just because the fundraiser is over and the holidays are coming to an end, Hendershot said. People can make an impact at Share the Warmth all year long.

Adrian’s Kathryn Navarro was among those people during the three days of the fundraiser to show her support for the shelter and its guests.

On Dec. 21, she pulled into the parking lot with a trunk full of pillows and blankets for use at the shelter. Earlier in the week, she dropped off loads of oatmeal.

“I’ve been constantly doing couponing deals and using my Kohl’s cash that I have earned for the holiday shopping to get items like pillows, blankets and gloves,” Navarro said. “I’ve bought a lot of stuff in bulk so that we can drop it off every day. I’m just trying to teach my kids about donating and giving back to those who don’t have as much.”

Two of Navarro’s children were with her during her Dec. 21 drop off, six-year-old Gunnar Rumsey and four-year-old Ava Rumsey.

Coats and other miscellaneous bulk items were donated by Navarro to make sure they were available to the guests with the cold weather approaching.

Ironically, she admitted, she is not that big of a fan of Christmas in the sense of people giving of themselves only around the holiday season.

“It needs to happen year-round,” she stressed.

Other individuals, like Adrian residents Teri Anderson and Jacob Anderson, stopped by throughout the week and dropped off blankets and coats for use at the shelter.

“We like to donate what we can, when we can,” Jacob Anderson said.

Will there be a second annual ‘72 Hours to Share the Warmth?’

There is the expectation that another fundraiser similar to the inaugural “72 Hours to Share the Warmth” will come back for 2024.

“This is not an experiment that is simply over,” Hendershot said. “This will carry on whether it is us out here again (Hendershot, Thomas and Burrece) or we pick from three people who will volunteer and do it. It will continue. The (Army) National Guard has already committed to coming back.”

It was good for the shelter’s guests to see and interact with the board members, DeSloover said.

Subscribe Now: For all the latest local developments, breaking news, and high school and college sports content.

“Unfortunately, a lot of our guests do feel like they are the unwanted (in Lenawee County),” she said, which explains why it meant a lot for the staff and board members to see the community’s outpouring of support. “It will really help their morale to know that people do care for them.”

In November, Share the Warmth of Lenawee teamed up with Adrian College to host a homelessness town hall that was nearly standing room only. The event was coordinated with Adrian College’s social work department. Those conversations are expected to continue in the future, DeSloover said.

“The more we can get information out into the community and to help erase some of those stigmas will be for the best,” she said.

Besides Dec. 21 being the official first day of winter, it also is recognized as National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day, which seeks to remember those in the homeless community who died the previous year. The day reminds people to honor those individuals and remember the life they lived, DeSloover said.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Share the Warmth of Lenawee’s recent fundraiser met with great success