TOWN OF TONAWANDA — With a projected overnight low in the mid-20s with a slight chance of precipitation, it’s not going to be fun out there Friday night in the Hoover Middle School parking lot.

That’s kind of the point.

The 25th Ken-Ton Schools Sleepout is set for 8 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday at the school, sponsored by a group of teachers known as Educators Totally Committed and aimed at raising awareness and help for the poor and homeless in Western New York.

ETC member Stephen Ash, a retired math teacher, said the sleep-outs were started in 1988 by Ken-Ton teacher Jerry Starr, who wanted to find a way to help people in need.

“He was quite a guy,” Ash said. “If you knew Jerry, you just loved Jerry. He had that personality that if you knew him, you thought you’d known him for 50 years.”

Starr died June 29. In his memory, on Friday, Superintendent Mark Mondanaro will be proclaiming that next year’s event — and those henceforth — will be known as the Jerry Starr Ken-Ton School Sleepout to help people in need, Ash said.

Starr’s daughter, Robyn Starr, will be reading part of the proclamation.

“It’s something my father always believed in, the whole idea of noting that there are so many other people who are less fortunate than we are,” she said. “It’s kind of ironic because all four of (his children) went into education, and all of us in one way or another do something like that.”

Robyn Starr, a teacher at Alden Middle School, runs the student government and just finished putting together a food drive, while her brother Kevin runs the Clarence version of the sleepout and their two sisters do similar things, she said.

“It was a good lesson to learn, and one we try to install into our students ... that it’s nice to have, but it’s also important to understand that others don’t,” she said.

Kevin Starr said this year marks the 22nd year of the Clarence Sleepout, which will also take place this weekend.

“All of it is because of the inspiration of Stephen and my dad,” he said. “None of it would have happened without them.

“It was really a conversation with my dad that started the Clarence Sleepout. I was ... maybe not as sensitive as I could have been about something and he just asked me to think about it. It inspired me.

“I’m proud of it and I’m proud of my dad,” he said. “It’s always special, but this one’s for him.”

Students, teachers and faculty from the Ken-Ton school district, St. John the Baptist School and the Church of the Nativity will be participating Friday in the  Town of Tonawanda event. Ash said about 20 people are expected, down from prior totals of 35 to 40 people.

“But sleeping out is not a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s cold, it’s a long night. It’s for a good purpose, but it’s still a long night.”

Participants will have a (safely contained) fire for a bit of warmth, Ash said, but mostly the key to fending off the cold is just “layers upon layers upon multiple layers — and that’s about it.

“The fire is more of a token fire,” he said. “It’s more of a symbolic thing, like ‘Here we are.’ ”

While those sleeping out keep warm, Ken-Ton residents are invited to bring donations of money, food, clothes, personal care items and small furniture items to be donated to local charities that help the homeless to the site.

The date of the sleepouts was specifically selected to help groups get past the post-Christmas donation lull, Ash said ... and over the years, those donations have added up.

“It’s been a community effort. We’ve raised a little over $900,000, all of which has been given to agencies in the area ... and I think that’s low-balling it,” Ash said. “We’ve probably gathered 60 to 100 bags of clothing and I’ve never put a dollar amount on those.

“We are not professional fundraisers,” he said. “We’re a bunch of retired teachers, faculty, staff and kids. If we can do this, anybody can do this.”

Money and goods raised during the event go to the Calvary New Convenant Baptist Church in the Town of Tonawanda and Little Portion Friary, The Response to Love Center, Gospel Expansion Foundation, South Buffalo Community Table and Community Action Information Center in Buffalo.

Ultimately, Ash is hoping to see the notion of a community and school day of giving spread past Western New York.

“We would like to see the United Nations declare the first Friday in February a community school day of caring and sharing to help people in need,” he said.

While Buffalo, Kenmore, the Town of Tonawanda, the City of Tonawanda, Wheatfield, Medina, Clarence and the Niagara and Erie county legislatures have proclaimed a local community day. Ash continues to aim higher.

“I see this as a long process but we’re so committed to doing it,” he said. “We’re not asking for a dollar nor a dime but a day on the calendar.”

Jill Keppeler is a writer for the Tonawanda News. She can be reached at jill.keppeler@tonawanda-news.com.