Cold cash will warm me on my outdoor sleepover

I want you to give me money!

Whoa! Before you flip to the sports pages or the crossword, give me a moment to explain.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that, what with being a typical do-gooder columnist, I ask you for money pretty much every day.

Well, you could not be more wrong. For the record, I only ask for money every other day. And if you think about it, it's not so much me asking you to give me money as it is me offering you an opportunity to give me money.

See the difference? I thought so. The important thing to remember is that, technically speaking, the money isn't for me. This time, the money is going to help the neediest people in our community.

And it's not like I won't be going out of my way to earn your donation. Regular readers will know that on Thursday night I will be sleeping on the streets in a sincere effort to get you to cough up some cash to help the homeless.

That's right, I will be sleeping out in the cold and asking you for cash to help reduce the number of people who sleep out in the cold and ask you for cash.

I will be among about 50 community and business leaders huddled in sleeping bags near the corner of Portage and Main for the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's second annual CEO Sleepout, which hopes to raise $150,000 to help homeless Winnipeggers get off the streets.

The cash we raise (Remember that bit where I asked you for money?) goes to the BIZ's Change for the Better initiative, which supports employment programs for the homeless. The idea is to find a permanent solution by helping people get off the streets and into decent housing and jobs.

So what I want you to do right now is drop whatever you are doing -- unless it is a cup of scalding hot coffee -- go to www.changeforthebetter.org and click the "Donate Now" button under my photo.

Technically, you can click the button under the photo of ANY of the roughly 50 corporate and community leaders, but, all things considered, I think you should donate in my name.

I think you should do this because... hold on while I grab a tissue... the more money I can raise for this amazing cause, the higher I will be able to hold my head on Thursday night while cuddling up with all the other CEOs.

Yes, for fundraising purposes, they have lumped me in the CEO category, even though I am not what you would call a big-shot corporate leader who can hit up a bunch of high rollers for impressive donations.

Unlike all the CEOs, however, I have a secret weapon, by which I mean you, the hard-working, compassionate, generous newspaper column reader. I could also point out you are extremely attractive and witty, but I only have so much space in today's column.

I do have room to mention that, during Thursday's sleepout under the stars, I'll be facing many fundraising challenges. For example, Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Biz, shared this alarming story:

"Last year, one of the CEOs was sleeping in a bush in the courtyard and a worker going to the office early in the morning dumped her coffee in the bush on top of the CEO."

But I am willing to face highly caffeinated hazards of this nature if it means you, the reader, will go online to www.changeforthebetter.org and help me raise some cash and awareness for the homeless.

Sure, you can donate in the name of the city's powerful business elite, but when I last checked, none of them had their own (bad word) newspaper column.

Plus I asked really nicely. So, thanks. You can pick up your coffee now.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 24, 2012 A2