Squadron 294 in Hartland has raised over $380,000 in six previous February fundraisers.
While there isn’t a significant homeless veteran population in Hartland, Wis., that hasn’t stopped the community from throwing its support behind Sons of The American Legion Squadron 294’s annual effort to raise funds and awareness.
Since the squadron’s first Operation Homeless Veterans Sleep Out for Our Veterans, the fundraiser has raised over $380,000. The seventh annual Sleep Out will take place Feb. 13-14 outside American Legion Post 294.
“We started this in 2020. We were looking for a new fundraiser for the Sons organization to work on. We said, let’s have a sleepout to bring real awareness to the homeless veteran problem we have in this country,” Squadron 294 Commander Mark Pape said.
While some suggested sleeping out in June, organizers knew doing the sleepout in February would bring “real awareness,” Pape said.
“(Doing it in June) takes away from what these people really go through,” he said. “So we decided to sleep out in small tents and cardboard boxes in our parking lot at the post.”
The goal for the first sleepout in 2020 was modest — $5,000, with fraternal financial services organization Modern Woodmen promising to match the first $2,500 raised by Squadron 294.
That first sleep out ended up raising $20,000.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘We’re not sure exactly what we did, but we did something right.’ And this is something we could build on,” Pape said.
Build on it they have, enduring Wisconsin’s harsh February weather each year since. Pape noted that during one year’s sleepout, the temperature never topped zero degrees and reached minus-20 degrees at night. Even so, 16 people, mostly SAL members, braved the frigid conditions.
Just in case, the post does stay open all night. “I don’t ask anyone to put their lives in danger. … We dress warm, we have burn barrels out there. We try to simulate a homeless encampment,” Pape said.
Pape expects 25-30 people to sleep out for this year’s event, including SAL National Commander Bill Clancy. Pape will also be one of those sleeping out.
“It was a very humbling experience to sleep in a cardboard box in a parking lot when I have a perfectly fine bed and roof over my head two blocks away from the post. But we still did it in February, and a lot of people who have slept out have gotten a really good idea of what our veterans go through sometimes when they’re down on their luck,” he said.
That recognition is reflected in the community’s support, which beyond financial donations includes clothing donations and food drives. All the proceeds stay in southeast Wisconsin, going to the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative and Women Veterans Network.
“I think the community support, this community really knows what our veterans do for us. They come out and really back us,” Pape said. “We have a homeless veterans problem in this country, and I think the country is very receptive to helping out veterans and trying to get the homeless veterans problem in check. We just have a great community and they back us 100 percent.
“We try to do what we can, our small part in this problem that we have.”
More details on the Squadron 294 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hartlandsons294.
- Sons