I hate the cold.

   Most winter days in the Tonawanda News newsroom, I’m sitting here wearing my coat. (I’m doing it right now, as a matter of fact.) I wage an endless, mostly good-natured war with my husband over our home’s thermostat, and I have a go-to stash of warm sweaters and fleece pullovers I can turn to when Western New York winters — even the mild one we’ve had so far this year — prove to be too much.

And every time I hear about the annual sleep-out at Hoover Middle School, I wince a little.

Not that it’s not a good cause. It’s a great cause. I admire those who do it. I have nothing but respect for them.

But it makes me feel cold just thinking about it.

I have to huddle under multiple blankets in my relatively nice warm house to be comfortable on a winter night. Sleep outside? The only response I have is “Brrrr ...”

But people do it. Dozens of people. Kids, teachers. With nothing between them and the elements but layers of clothing and maybe a flimsy refrigerator box.

And they don’t even have to.

Lots of people do.

According to its most recent online report, the Homeless Alliance of Western New York estimated there are about 8,500 homeless people in Erie County ... and on any given night, there are between 1,200 and 1,500 men, women and children who are homeless.

That same report adds that 18 percent of the homeless population in Erie County are children under the age of 18 ... which makes me want to wrap my two boys up in blankets and never let them out of my sight.

The sleep-out at Hoover Middle aims to raise awareness of this plight ... to raise money, food and clothing and other help for the homeless of Western New York ... and to let kids who will hopefully never have to get a good, close look at the realities of life on the street get the slightest peek at what it’s like.

Everyone knows that one night in a chilly parking lot won’t show people what it’s really like to be homeless — the despair, the struggle to maintain hygiene and communication. Those sleeping out Friday have clean bathrooms handy, and anyone can get warmed up if they get just too cold.

But they’ll know better than they did before.

So, if you’re able to take some donations ... some non-perishable food items, some gently used clothing, a check for their cause ... over to that shivering group of people in their refrigerator boxes and sleeping bags near the Sheridan Drive pedestrian overpass in the Town of Tonawanda, go for it.

Because you’re not out there freezing, and they don’t have to be ... but not everyone is so lucky.

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