Today a good number of  Vincentians from the conferences within the Windsor-Essex Central Council walked the 13th annual SleepWalk to raise funds exclusively for the purchase of beds. 

SleepWalk was the brainchild of the SSVP Youth and was first held during the Annual General Assembly in Windsor.  Bedbugs had become a serious problem in the city and because of this it was decided that our stores could no longer accept or distribute mattresses, box springs or any other kind of sleeping furniture.  But there was a real need for beds.  The Youth Conferences were inspired and SleepWalk began.   That first year and every year since, members of conferences in the city and the smaller communities surrounding Windsor have collected pledges and walked the same route, through the beautiful riverfront park that stretches  from historic Assumption Church toward the downtown area.  After the walk there is always the celebration of Eucharist.  The motto:  A BED TO REST EVERY HEAD  is our inspiration.  Last year SleepWalk raised $60 000 for beds that any conference in Windsor-Essex can access and give to individuals or families who need them. 

This year 19 members of my home conference, St. John the Baptist in Amherstburg, attended.  There were four who were not able to walk the walk.  They waited patiently under the ancient shade trees in the church yard for us to return and to join in the Eucharistic celebration.  After mass we went to breakfast, laughed and enjoyed ourselves. 

I must confess that the walk was quite a bit easier 13 years ago when I was 13 years younger.  The path up the riverbank seems to be more steep today and I really needed a nap when I got home.  But I wouldn’t miss it for anything. 

SleepWalk is an example of who we are and why we do what we do.   We are ordinary lay people who wear our Catholic faith as proudly as we wear our SSVP shirts and ball caps through the park full of people fishing, jogging and just relaxing.   We see Christ in those we serve, and who would deny Jesus a bed where He could sleep?  No act of charity is foreign to us, so we are innovators who find ways to get beds into households where they are needed.  The beds we walked for today will be given to our friends, the people we have visited in their homes.   Finally, SleepWalk is an opportunity to come together as family, to talk and laugh, to pray and eat a hearty breakfast together.  I do love my Vincentian family!

Submitted by
Denise Bondy, Chair
ONRC Spirituality Committee