Photo: Contributed

The eighth annual Campout To End Youth Homelessness is set for Friday night and organizers plan to host the event at their long-awaited new housing facility in North Kamloops opening in the new year.

A Way Home Kamloops’ 2024 campout raises funds and awareness around the issues of youth homelessness.

This year's event takes place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the newly built Katherine’s Place, which is expected to open to homeless youth in January.

The campout involves participants sleeping outside on a mid-December night while hearing stories from youth who have been homeless to learn what it is like.

This year’s fundraising goal is a loftier $200,000 up from last year’s goal of $155,000.

All proceeds from this year’s campout are going to support AWHK’s Scattered Sites and Life Skills programs that support youth in Kamloops.

Started in 2017 by A Way Home Kamloops Founder Katherine McParland, the original goal of the campout was to raise funds for the organization's Safe Suites Program.

That supported housing program has been operational for more than five years and will now become part of what is Katherine’s Place.

“We are excited to take campers on a special tour of the new building. We will be camping in the parking lot and courtyard as the first people to utilize this new site,” Tangie Genshorek, executive director of AWHK said in a press release.

Once youth are moved-in to their new homes at Katherine’s Place, the campout will relocate back to McDonald Park in 2025.

Participants in this year’s campout can register with Away Home Kamloops and collect pledges in support of their campout. The event also attracts sponsors each year.

People can take part in the campout with a team on location or via Zoom from the comfort of home.

“We are also excited to continue to offer the online option to increase accessibility and make it possible for people to join who are out of town,” Genshorek said.

Katherine's Place is a supportive housing building for youth ages 19 to 26 who are at-risk of or experiencing homelessness. The building is located in the 500-block of Tranquille Road.

At the new facility, youth will be able to access wraparound supports there to develop life skills while meeting their employment and education goals, both in the housing and through connections with supports in the community.