CEO Sleepout returns with new site and date

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This article was published 20/09/2017 (2408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The CEO Sleepout returns next month with a few new wrinkles.

Since its inception in 2011, the event co-ordinated by the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ has had more than 500 chief executive officers and community leaders take part in the initiative to shine public- and private-sector lights on the issue of homelessness in the city.

Returning for its sixth year, the CEO Sleepout will move its outdoor, overnight campsite from Portage Avenue and Main Street to a spot under the York Avenue canopy at the RBC Convention Centre.

It has also bumped back its traditional September date to Oct. 26 — to be held in conjunction with the fifth National Conference on Ending Homelessness (Oct. 25-27 at the convention centre) — and the 2017 event marks the beginning of a partnership between the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ and the End Homelessness Winnipeg not-for-profit organization.

Also new this year is a clothing drive — event participants will collect clothing, backpacks, travel mugs and more to give to those in need.

“People who are homeless are real — they are our neighbours,” Louis Sorin, president and CEO of End Homelessness Winnipeg, said on Wednesday in a news release. “It is important to see their strengths and their gifts and to see people for whom they can be, not necessarily as they are today.”

The last Sleepout, in 2015, raised $170,000 and brought together roughly 100 local CEOs and community leaders.

There was no 2016 edition.

The $800,000 raised since the fundraiser’s inception has helped employ 137 people, adding up to more than 51,000 hours of employment, co-ordinators said.

“Our collective goal this year is to hit our $1 million in total funding raised since the inception of the initiative, allowing those people who are homeless or at the risk of being homeless to be employed by helping us beautify our downtown together, creating collective hope and inspiration for our community,” Downtown Winnipeg BIZ CEO Stefano Grande said.