"You're going to go home to a warm bed in a warm house. You're going to have more food than you can eat tonight. You have friends next to you. The people we're learning about tonight don't have any of those things."

That's what youth minister Angela Gaughan told 33 students from six local high schools who gathered Saturday to take part in the second annual Box Night, an evening to learn about homelessness, make sandwiches to distribute to needy people and, in an effort to better understand a homeless person's plight, sleep in cardboard boxes in the parking lot of St. Bernard School in Mt. Lebanon.

The sleeping outside part of the program hasn't worked out very well, though. Last year, rain forced a late-night scramble indoors, and this year rain again canceled the sleep out.

So, the students from Seton-La Salle, Keystone Oaks, Bishop Canevin, Oakland Girls, Central Catholic and Mt. Lebanon high schools took part in the program at St. Bernard School but went home to sleep.

The fact that the students -- unlike homeless people -- had the option to get out of the rain and sleep indoors wasn't lost on Genevieve McClain, 15, a student at Mt. Lebanon High School.

"It made me feel good about having a home," she said.

Although the Box Night participants wouldn't come away with an appreciation of just how uncomfortable a mattress of cardboard and asphalt can be, the night still held lessons.

The students watched a film titled "One Bridge to the Next."

For two weeks, filmmakers followed Dr. Jim Withers, founder of the street-medicine outreach program Operation Safety Net, as he tended to the medical needs of the homeless and his staff tried to get housing for them.

The film showed beautiful shots of Pittsburgh's bridges followed by scenes of the people who live under them.

Three men -- all homeless and all patients of Dr. Withers -- are the focus of the fim.

One, John Werner, was an architect who lived with his mother and took care of her. Bills piled up, he lost the house and suddenly found himself on the street, where he remained for 14 years.

Another, Paul Robertson, had been sleeping under a pedestrian bridge along the Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown. When he was given housing at a YMCA, he said, "I don't have to worry about where to sleep tonight. That's as positive as you can get."

After the documentary, Dr. Withers answered questions and was presented with a couple of boxes full of white tube socks, which he said "make [homeless people] really happy."

"Whatever you do, you're going to have people in your life -- treat them the way you want to be treated," Dr. Withers told the students. "Let them know they're important."

The learning portion of the night over, controlled chaos began as half of the students made sandwiches while the other half made clay bowls. The sandwiches were given to the St. Mary of Mercy Red Door program Downtown, which helps needy people. The bowls will be used at the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank's Empty Bowls dinner.

The happy rowdiness didn't diminish the night's purpose.

"I want to help now," said Connor Hayes, 15, a student at Seton-LaSalle High School.

"When you live in Mt. Lebanon, you don't really see people on the street. You don't know the extent of it," he said.

Adam Goodrick, 15, a student at Mt. Lebanon High School, agreed.

"It opens up your eyes to what's out there," he said.

For information on Operation Safety Net, go to www.pmhs.org/operation-safety-net.

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