Community Corner

Why Three Sisters from Shorewood Are Sleeping Outside in a Box—Until Christmas

All funds raised by the Seawald sisters will be delivered to Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners.

Carrie Seawald's three daughters—Debra, 12, Danielle, 10, and Savanah, 4,—have been sleeping outside in a box for nearly three weeks.

If the girl's have it their way, they will sleep outside on their backyard deck through Christmas Eve—45 nights in all.

Why?

Find out what's happening in Lake Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It's all to raise money and awareness for the fight against homelessness and hunger in Minnesota.

Click here to donate to the Seawald sisters.

Find out what's happening in Lake Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"There are so many people and families out there that do not have the basics in life like food, shelter and clothing," Carrie said. "It broke my kids', and my own, hearts to even think of this, and this is why my kids said that they just had to do something to help them."

Enter Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners' (IOCP) annual "Sleep Out" fundraiser. The family’s church is one of many around Lake Minnetonka that organizes a congregation sleep out every year, and last year the girls took it upon themselves to take things to another level.

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"As the kids said last year when they came inside Christmas morning, 'there is no better gift than coming in from our last night out in the cold to Santa's stockings, hot cocoa and knowing how many people we have helped stay warm this winter,'" Carrie said.

Last year, Carrie made a promise to the kids that if they chose to do undertake a sleep out marathon again this year she would join in for a few nights a week. This winter she's sleeping outside with the girls about three nights a week.

"Wow!" she said. "It sure has given me a new found appreciation for the comforts of my warm house and my bed." 

To date the girls have raised $2,995 in online and check donations, and their mother says they are very pleased to see all the people wanting to help. 

"They plan to continue this every year—they say," Carrie said. "I am so proud of these dedicated little hearts."

The Seawald family has gone through their own hardships since last year.

"I am now a single mother of four children," Carrie said. "I told the kids that with all the changes in our lives, they could skip doing the sleep out this year, and it would be fine. They wouldn't hear of it. They insisted on continuing their efforts no matter what."

Click here to donate to the Seawald sisters fight against homelessness and hunger.         


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