More than 160 people in Bloomington slept in cars Friday night to experience what it might be like to be unhoused and living in a car. This annual event is designed to raise awareness and funds to help the area’s homeless, and this year, multiple participants said they felt an added urgency to participate given McLean County's recent rise in homelessness.
Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSHM] nonprofit homeless shelter introduced the “Night In A Car” fundraiser nine years ago and it’s been held at Trinity Lutheran Church since.
Shelter CEO and participant Matt Burgess said it’s a toned-down version of what people living in their cars would experience. He pointed out that it's impossible to know how many people are living in their cars, but he estimates around a dozen per night in Bloomington-Normal.
“We're very clear that this is just a simulation,” he said. “This is nowhere close to the real thing. Everybody that's participating tonight gets to go home and take a nap in their house tomorrow.”
A fundraiser to help end homelessness
At Night In a Car, participants can turn on their cars for heat, use the church’s bathroom and have ample time to prep for the experience. They can also clear their cars out so there’s space to sleep, and Burgess said some participants will even participate from their driveways. It’s not a regulated event.
“A lot of times when people are stuck outside in their own vehicle, they're not able to prepare like that, because literally everything that they own is in that vehicle,” he said.
But the point of the event is not to force people into uncomfortable scenarios, Burgess said, adding that it’s a fundraiser — the largest annual one the shelter holds each year — and which it relies on for operating costs since it's a nonprofit.
Home Sweet Home balances the gravity of the night with some levity to encourage participation. Burgess said. They host activities and games, including what Burgess calls the “game of real life” to help educate people about homelessness and how they can help.
But that only goes on for around 45 minutes. From 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., people are told to sleep.
“We say, ‘All right, this is an event called Night In a Car. Guess what? It's time to go to your cars,’” he said.
The 2025 fundraising goal is $175,000 and participants are suggested to amass around $1,000 per car or group. Dollars are still being accepted through the end of the month, but at the time of publishing, HSHM was around 80% of the way there, according to its website.
Why participate
All types of people participate in Night In a Car, from sororities to families with kids, all with the same goal of supporting efforts to end homelessness. Many who were there Friday had participated before, including 9-year-old Nolan Refugio and his dad Ron Regugio who spent their third night in a car.
Ron Refugio said he didn’t think his son would want to participate after their first night was so cold, but he’s been adamant about coming back every year.
“We started to invite a lot of our family and friends over, because my son is passionate about it, and I'm going to support him throughout everything that he wants to do,” Ron Refugio said.
For the Redbirds Out and About All Night team, who spent their eighth night in cars, they said it felt like there was an added urgency this year given the rise in people becoming unhoused and unsheltered.
“I've watched the homeless situation in our community, and how the tents are coming up and the tents are going down, and they're getting moved here and there,” said Christa Lawhun. “And we can only do so much, so I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be able to help fundraise and make awareness for this situation.”
Group member Narry Kim added that she saw Peoria banned homelessness, so she can understand how unhoused people feel unwanted by cities.
“I feel like more homeless people are being... pushed to the margins,” she said, adding that places like Home Sweet Home are more important than ever.
Nessa Bogue, a first-timer, joined her friend Jane Brown, who spent her second night in a car because they both realized how close they both are to winding up in similar situations.
“I always realized that I'm like, two bad months away from being homeless myself, and I figured, I can do what I can,” Brown said, and Bogue added that she was probably one bad month away from homelessness.
Bogue added that they know places like Home Sweet Home are the area’s “emergency support system” and where she would go to seek help if she became unhoused.
“They are our safety nets,” she said.
Realizations on what it’s like
During the night, some got a better taste for what it’s like to be unhoused than expected. One participant shared during the Saturday morning reflection that they had an allergy attack and no pharmacies were open. It was luck that someone in their group had medication.
“I couldn’t make it through one night,” they said.
Nolan’s Bunch this year had five participants — six if you include dogs. Both Nolan Refugio and his dad said they worry about safety most during the night. For Ron Refugio, it’s keeping his son protected and warm. For Nolan Refugio, it’s about staying smart. He said he asks himself a lot of questions during Night In a Car about what it might be like to be homeless.
“What happens if they don't have a car? What happens if it don't have a home? What are they gonna do?” he said, adding that he’s doing what he can through fundraising and prayer.
Dave Bentlin from the Redbirds Out and About All Night team said this year was the first year he’d given serious consideration to his own safety. For the past eight years he’s participated with the team, he said his biggest concern is the cold, adding that he struggles to keep his toes warm.
This year, Bentlin said a police car passed by the lot sometime during the night with lights flashing and sirens wailing.
“And I thought to myself, and I kind of reached to make sure that my door was locked on my car,” he said. “And I hadn't really thought about that before, but you are kind of vulnerable when you're sleeping in a car.”
His teammate Narry Kim said she was still cold, despite it being warmer than years past.
“Imagine what's like outside in a tent,” she said.
Bogue said she didn’t realize how much she’d miss the necessities.
“Like, where are you going to get water to brush your teeth?” she said.
A little competition
However, the groups all had a good time participating. Bogue and Brown registered their third teammate, a stuffed shark, with an email and all, and Nolan’s Bunch entered a wager to bring some friendly competition into the fundraiser.
Depending on the donation outcome for the group, Nolan could egg his dad, or his dad would egg him.
At the Saturday morning reflection, Ron Refugio took an egg straight to the face.
Burgess called it “a good example of ways to make this just fun and engaging for people who are donating,” though he added that the mess may not be worth making it an annual tradition.
