FARMINGTON – A night spent in a cardboard box or sleeping bag in Abbott Park this Saturday will be just a taste of living as homeless people do.

People are invited to bring tents, boxes or a sleeping bag for the experience planned from 7 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday in Abbott Park on the campus of the University of Maine at Farmington.

The event, A Night in the Park, is sponsored by the Greater Franklin County Homelessness Coalition to raise awareness and funds to address homelessness.

The coalition includes community members and agency representatives who have been meeting for more than a year in response to the need for emergency shelter and affordable housing.

More than 125 cases of homelessness in Franklin County have been documented since records started to be kept in June 2007, said Lisa Laflin of the Healthy Community Coalition.

Half of the 125 homeless cases are people under the age of 18, but the coalition says the numbers represent a fraction of the actual homeless population because many cases go unreported, stated coalition member Briana Noles in a press release.

Homelessness locally may mean a person who bounces from one friend’s couch to another’s, one who has been a victim of domestic violence or someone who has been evicted from their home and has no place to stay, she said.

Franklin County has no homeless shelter and the coalition is not thinking about a traditional homeless shelter, Laflin said. But, it is looking at a scattered-sites model that would use landlords’ existing living space, or motels, she added.

With a goal to get people into more permanent situations, not just a quick fix for one night, the coalition is considering acquisition of long-term leases from landlords that would guarantee units are available, she said.

Data collected over the past months contains some powerful, heart-wrenching stories of of people sleeping in cars and on couches, she said. But it also raises the issue of defining homelessness. There is no assistance from the state unless a person meets the federal definition of homeless, which can include sleeping in a public or private space for at least three nights in a row, at a place like a park bench, she said.

“What role do all of us have?” asked Laflin. “Whether it’s clergy or the town clerk, we need to ask questions and help find appropriate resources. While there may not be people on cardboard boxes in front of the Farmington Post Office, the need is only getting more prevalent.”

Along with raising awareness, the Night in the Park is planned to raise money for a venture fund administered through Western Maine Community Action. The fund can help people when other resources are exhausted, she said.

Laflin has received a $200 donation from the Wilton’s Lion Club to go toward the coalition’s $5,000 goal for the fund.

Pledges and donations will be accepted when people register, which can be done at the event Saturday night, Noles said.

Youth from Old South Church and St. Joseph’s youth ministry groups will conduct their own “sleep out” on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Church and are taking pledges, she said.

For more information about registration for the event or contributions, contact Noles at 293-4597 or 491-8988 or [email protected]