SC Featured: Life on the streets – ESPN Video
St. Louis Rams defensive ends Chris Long and William Hayes went undercover to experience what life would be like if they were homeless, bringing awareness to an issue that has impacts over 570,000 people in the United States.
Long and Hayes went on an unadventurous journey in the “SC Featured” special that aired last Sunday, as they dressed up as homeless man and experienced the life for 24 hours.
Chris Long released this statement on his views of homelessness:
We were supposed to stay in a shelter after our first night on the streets before our cover was blown. We were apprehensive about allowing those cameras along with us in our experience. ESPN hit us up a few days before.
I think raising awareness is important on a lot of levels but the thing I took away was the human element of the problem. Awareness can’t fix everything, and just 2 days and a night on the street didn’t give us any answers. It did however give us perspective.
I hope that I can give more of my time, energy and resources to the cause in the future. William has been a real champ the last few years. I do regret not being able to stay out longer. A stay in one of St. Louis’ shelters would have been very valuable. We were found out day 2.