From The Desk Of The Creative Director - October 2026
Three Years In,
and We're Just Getting Started
Three years ago, I came across a fundraising idea being done elsewhere: ask people to spend a night sleeping in their cars to experience, in a very small and imperfect way, what it might feel like not to have a safe, stable place to call home. MCBT and the Mercer County Housing Initiative thought the concept was interesting and felt the community would support it. We adapted it for Mercer County, and before we knew it, we were two years into Mercer County’s Night in a Car.
All of a sudden, here we are planning Year Three.
If you've never heard of Night in a Car, here's the basic idea: On the first Friday night in February, participants gather at the Aledo VFW, where they mingle, grab a hot cocoa or snacks, listen to music or view a demonstration and a brief presentation, share stories, and receive fundraising updates in real time. Then, they climb into their vehicle, and spend the night there in the parking lot. There are no hotel rooms. No warm, comfortable bed waiting at home. Just an individual or group in a car, a winter night, and a tiny glimpse of what it means when “I'll just go home” isn't an option.
But sleeping in a car is really only the beginning.
Prior to the event night, individuals and teams spend a couple months fundraising, with the top fundraising team taking home a traveling trophy for the year. They fundraise to support the Mercer County Emergency Housing Fund, which helps local residents facing a housing crisis with things like rent, mortgage payments, utility bills, and rental deposits. So while the experience lasts one night, the impact lasts much longer.
The first two years have taught us a lot. We’ve learned what works, what doesn't, what people respond to, and just how generous this community can be when we give them a reason to show up. We've watched the event grow, watched people come back, watched businesses and organizations get involved, and watched a somewhat unusual idea become an annual part of the Mercer County calendar.
And I have to admit, I'm so excited for Year Three.
One of the things I love about my work with MCBT is that no two days look exactly alike. One day I'm working on a website or newsletter. Another day I'm helping tell the story of a community program, working with a local organization, developing a campaign, troubleshooting something that absolutely did not go according to plan, or figuring out how to convince people to sleep in their cars in February.
But underneath all of those different projects is the part of my work I love the most: storytelling. I love finding the story in what people are doing, figuring out why it matters, and helping other people see it too. Whether it's a community program, a local business, a person who needs a little help, or an idea someone is trying to bring to life, there's always a story there. And I love that I have the opportunity to tell it.
Night in a Car brings so many of those pieces together. The storytelling, fundraising, community outreach, design, promotion, partnerships, logistics. And a whole lot of little behind-the-scenes details that keep an event like this running smoothly.
That's part of what makes getting to the third year so rewarding. We've built something. Now we get to see what it can become, where our community takes it.
This year, we're hoping to grow Night in a Car, not simply to make the event bigger or to raise more money for the Emergency Housing Fund - which is always a critical need - but to bring more people into the conversation about housing insecurity in our community. To give even more people a reason to say, “This matters. And I'm going to do something about it.”
So, here we are. The planning has begun. The ideas are flying. February is coming.
And we're just getting started.
