SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Hundreds of people are spending their nights on the streets of Savannah, because they don't have anywhere else to go.
On Friday, some Savannah neighbors tried to understand what it means to be homeless, by spending the night in boxes behind the Old Savannah City Mission.
"There's an African proverb that says "I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand. And so we're encouraging people to do homelessness," said Rev. Jim Lewis, executive director of the Old Savannah City Mission.
A group from Aldersgate United Methodist Church came early to put together the shelters that would be their only protection for the night.
"There are people everyday, every night that doesn't even sleep as well as this, in a cardboard condominium as we call it, that they're sleeping on park benches or in bushes," said Pastor Steve Meguiar.
For these folks this will be their first night out on the streets, but for millions of Americans it has become the reality thanks to foreclosures and unemployment.
"They lost their house. They got a mobile home. They lost their mobile home. They lost their car. They are literally in the streets," said Lewis.
Many of these folks also got to interact for the first with time with those who are homeless.
"A young man just came up and said he wished that we had been around to help him build his condo because we did a great job, but I said, 'You probably didn't have all the cardboard and the duct tape like we did,' and he said no," said Meguiar.
"Understand how people can find their way out of homelessness. They need support. They need guidance. They need encouragement," suggested Lewis.
About 30 people participated in the "night in a box" being held as part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
On Saturday, the Old Savannah City Mission is holding its 12th Annual Day of Great Thanksgiving from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Forsyth Park.
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