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San Diegans sleep under the stars in support of county's homeless

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SAN DIEGANS SLEEP UNDER THE STARS IN SUPPORT OF COUNTY’S HOMELESS

Sleepless San Diego in Partnership with San Diego CityFest with Luis Palau

Raises Funds and Awareness for Homeless Community

(April 12, 2010) – On April 24, hundreds of willing volunteers will forgo the comfort of home to spend the night outside at Liberty Station. Families, teens, grandparents, working professionals and even children will sleep on cots and in sleeping bags to raise awareness for San Diego County’s homeless. By fundraising for their night under the stars, San Diegans will also contribute financially to long-term solutions to homelessness through host organization San Diego Rescue Mission.

According to the “2009 Point in Time Count,” by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, close to 8,000 San Diegans can be found sleeping on the streets, in emergency shelters, or in transitional housing on a given night. The San Diego Rescue Mission has been serving this community since 1955. Apart from Sleepless San Diego, it provides both short and long-term services to help transition the homeless community.

Currently the 4^th annual Sleepless San Diego, the event runs from 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 24, until 7 a.m. on Sunday, April 25. It includes both a free expo and the fundraising sleep-out. The afternoon and evening will be packed with live music, testimonies from individuals who have been helped by the Rescue Mission, great food and drink vendors, and educational activities to learn more about homelessness and how to help.

Sleepless San Diego is also the launch event for San Diego CityFest with Luis Palau, a five-month Season of Service and two-day celebratory festival on September 11-12 at Mission Bay Park. The CityFest Season of Service will center around five “high-impact” events in the areas of homelessness, hunger, mentoring, military, and schools. At its conclusion in September, the CityFest Season of Service will be the largest ever single volunteer movement in San Diego County. It has received official endorsement from the County Board of Supervisors and various city mayors, including verbal support from San Diego City Mayor Jerry Sanders. The festival itself is free and open to the public, projected to bring out at least 100,000 San Diegans.

Sleepless San Diego will be held at Liberty Station, 2772 Historic Decatur Rd., San Diego, CA 92106. Participants can register online, or on the day of the event, April 24, from 3-9 p.m. The expo is from 3-9 p.m. and is FREE.

About Palau Festivals:

Luis Palau and his worldwide ministry have shared the Gospel with 1 billion people through evangelistic events and media. Palau festivals are family-friendly events that have drawn more than 8.5 million people since 1999 in such diverse locations as Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (300,000), Nashville, Tennessee (90,000), Houston, Texas (225,000), Manchester, England (55,000), Lima, Peru (650,000), and Buenos Aires, Argentina (850,000). The Palau hope through the Season of Service is to bring together individuals across religious, ethnic, and economic divides to serve and bring transformation to San Diego County.

For more information about Sleepless San Diego and San Diego CityFest with Luis Palau, please call 858.523.1002 or visit www.sandiegocityfest.com.

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Contact:

Amanda Fields | (760) 815 5379

Amanda.Fields@Palau.org