Triangle execs play homeless for charity

More than 20 local executives, including WRAL General Manager Steve Hammel and American Tobacco Vice President of Real Estate Michael Goodmon, slept under the stars Thursday night to raise awareness about poverty and homelessness.

Posted 4:18 a.m. Sep 7, 2012 — Updated 4:23 a.m. Sep 7, 2012

DURHAM, N.C. — More than 20 local executives, including WRAL General Manager Steve Hammel and American Tobacco Vice President of Real Estate Michael Goodmon, slept under the stars Thursday night to raise awareness about poverty and homelessness.

Participants in the United Way CEO Sleepout in Durham made hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for local shelters.

Their sleeping accommodations – a piece of cardboard, an entire box or a sleeping bag – depended on how much money they raised.

"The gorgeous thing about us right now is that we get to go home. We get to go home, take a shower, go to work and do what we've go to do," Goodmon said. "It's amazing to realize that there's people who don't have that option. Their only choice is to do this again and do it again and do it again. It's pretty powerful just to get a small taste of that."

The United Way estimates that more than 200,000 people in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties live in poverty.

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