Participant Instructions

Welcome to Night In A Car 2023!

Welcome to year seven for Night In A Car! Home Sweet Home is thrilled that you could join us. Please see below for information that might come in handy and serve as a quick reference. For a PDF version, look here. As you go along, if you come across something that you want to discuss further or simply have a question, you can jump on our NIAC Facebook group to reach out to HSHM staff. We hope you have fun exploring and learning more about Home Sweet Home and just how important your support is. Thank you!

If you have any questions or if you need me for any reason, contact me at lbunge@hshministries.org or 217-440-4083.

 

Schedule for NIAC: Trinity Lutheran Participants

7:00 pm                               Check-in

7:30 pm                                 Welcome, Instructions, and Line of Life Activity

8:00 pm                               Residential Stories

8:30 pm                                 Prayer and Send Off

6:00 am                               Morning Recap Inside

 

Schedule for NIAC: Remote Participants

8:15 pm                                 Check-In on Zoom (Zoom invitation will be emailed)

8:30 pm                                 Welcome, Instructions, and Line of Life Activity

9:00 pm                                 Residential Stories

9:30 pm                                 Prayer and Send Off

6:30 am                                  Morning Recap on Zoom (Zoom invitation will be emailed)

 

CHECK-IN INSTRUCTIONS

For those checking in at Trinity Lutheran Church:

• Parking lot attendants will be available to assist you starting at 6:30 pm. The parking lot sits behind the church. When you arrive at Trinity Lutheran Church (801 S. Madison St in Bloomington) you will be given parking instructions. You will then bring in your slip provided by parking attendant to let us know you have arrived with your Team Name, Spot Number, and Car Model.

For those checking in remotely from other locations:

• Between 8:15-8:30 pm, register by letting us know you have joined us in the Zoom chat with your Team Name. The Zoom invitation is listed above.

 

Please remember to follow these health and safety precautions:

• Please don’t participate if you are feeling ill. If you are experiencing the following symptoms, consider staying home:
  • Chills, fatigue, muscle or body aches, new onset severe headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.
  • A fever at or above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Know yourself and your limits. If it gets too cold, please play it safe and go inside.

 

Experience Night In A Car

Looking for something to do in your car? We have lots of great activities online at www.nightinacar.org. You can complete them as an individual or group. During this time or at some other point in the night, you can also take advantage of reflection and stories with Team Bookmobile Babes. Story videos can be found at nightinacar.org. We trust that these materials will enlarge your understanding and passion for caring for people in your community and will lead to rich reflection and discussion.

• To find the materials online:
  • Go to nightinacar.org
  • Hover over the ‘About’ section.
  • Click on ‘Experience NIAC’. Here you will find all of the materials to partake in. Enjoy!

 

Fundraising during the event:

During the event itself, you may want to take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, or other forms of social media by posting on your experience and donation goal progress. You can send family and friends to www.nightinacar.org to donate on your team page. Take advantage of posting pictures of your team and sharing your experience. It’s not too late to meet and surpass your donation goal. Be Creative! You can also initiate some fun challenges.

• Ask a family member or friend to match the donations of others up to a certain amount.
• Volunteer to do something funny or challenging like creating a new NIAC theme song or keeping a video journal to encourage others to support you.
• You are fun and incredibly creative. You can do it!!

 

 

For those participating at Trinity Lutheran Church:

Bathroom Facilities…Water, Coffee, Hot Cocoa…Book Table

For those who are joining us at Trinity Lutheran Church, there will be a marked entrance behind the church that leads into the gym. That’s where you’ll find us. We can direct you to bathroom facilities. (Note: This entrance has three stairs that lead down to the gym. An entrance with only one stair is close-by on the left corner of the building.)

You will also find bottled water and snacks available throughout the event. Coffee and Hot Chocolate will be available from 7:00 pm to Midnight and from 5:00 am to 7:00 am. Feel free to come in anytime during the night/morning to grab some.

We are also pleased that Bloomington Library’s Bookmobile will be participating in NIAC. Inside the gym, there will be a book table with many books that deal with the needs of the homeless and our community as well as the opportunity to register for a library card if you do not have one.

 

If you are bringing donations to the event:

If you have donations that have not been submitted to www.nightinacar.org, please bring all cash and checks into the gym and give them to me. Make sure checks are made out to ‘Home Sweet Home Ministries’ and that the memo of the check says ‘Night In A Car’ with your team name.

NOTE: We would like to have all NIAC donations received no later than Tuesday, February 28^th.

 

A quick word about security:

Along with alerting the Bloomington Police Department that the event will be taking place, volunteers from HSHM will patrol the parking lot throughout the night. If you have any needs or concerns, please call Leslie Bunge at 217-440-4083. If there is an immediate threat or emergency, call 911.

What is the Wi-Fi password at Trinity Lutheran Church?

John2021

Thank you for being a NIAC Hero! We couldn’t do it without you! You’re truly making a difference.