Reprinted with permission from The Redwoods Group website.  The Redwoods Group CEO, Kevin Trapani, was one of those who participated in United Way’s CEO Sleepout. 

United Way’s CEO Sleepout on September 6.

Last night, our CEO Kevin Trapani, participated in United Way of the Greater Triangle’s CEO Sleepout and spent the night sleeping on the ground to call attention to poverty in our area. In the Triangle alone, there are approximately 2,000 people who wake up homeless everyday. Of those, 800 are children that don’t know where they will sleep tonight. 

 While Kevin and the other 24 CEOs get is that one night does not come close to the realities that homeless face night after night, it was still eye opening. This morning, Kevin had this to say:

 ”I awoke this morning alongside 24 other CEOs to the scream of a freight train roaring through downtown Durham, with the searing image of the 200,000 who awake this morning in our region with persistent poverty as their reality.

Poor single moms awake wondering, ‘How do I find the $10 for my daughter’s field trip?’  800 kids awake and head to Durham’s schools wondering, ‘Will I sleep on the street, in a car or in a shelter tonight?’   Poor, working dads agonize about whether to pay the phone bill or the car insurance bill.”

The Redwoods Group CEO, Kevin Trapani, shares his sleepout experience with other CEOs and community leaders gathered at the CEO Breakfast following the CEO Sleepout.

 Here is additional media coverage and the stream of Kevin’s and others’ tweets from the event.   ABC 11′s coverage of the event: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/video?id=8801050      Kevin’s tweets from last night: https://twitter.com/kevintrapani    And you can read more tweets about the event here: https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/?q=ceosleepout&src=typd and https://twitter.com/i/#!/search/uwceosleepout”

 Overall, the CEO Sleep Out raised more than $30,000, and will help in numerous ways. But no one left feeling the systemic problem was resolved. So, what can we do? We can be intentional about how we serve others. We can be as generous as we can with the blessings we have. And we can do our best to make sure that those who have the least are not forgotten.

You can still donate to this cause here: https://www.unitedwaytriangle.org/ceo/donate.php 

You can learn more about the issue of poverty in the Triangle: http://www.unitedwaytriangle.org/blog/tag/triangle-poverty/ 

And the issues we face with ending poverty in America: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/why-cant-we-end-poverty-in-america.html?pagewanted=all ?}