CRYSTAL LAKE – More than 500 people raised more than $60,000 in pledge in the third annual SleepOut for Shelter, which benefited McHenry County PADS, a program of Pioneer Center for Human Services.

Many pitched tents or built a cardboard box shelter and spent the entire night outside May 12 after a rally at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake to educated the public about homelessness in McHenry County.

“It was an awesome experience,” Christin Kruse, vice president of fund development for Pioneer Center, said in a news release. “So many more young people and families participated this year.”