On Friday, April 15th at 6:30 pm until 7:00 am on Saturday the 16th on the Quad, students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to participate in Shack City to experience homelessness first hand. Shack City is an event put on by the Global Leadership Project to raise awareness about homelessness. It’s an interactive way for people to understand the struggles that the homeless face, and learn how to help. It is a free event and the GLP is encouraging everyone to come experience it.
On any given night there are over 600,000 homeless people in the U.S. one quarter of those homeless people are children. While many people think that homelessness only occurs in big cities like New York or Los Angeles, however that’s not true. Homelessness happens all over the country, even here in Hays. “Shack City will raise awareness about an issue we tend to overlook or not see in Hays,” says coordinator, Elizabeth Sigvaldson. Homelessness impacts people more than you think, and “we want to widen student’s world views and we feel that this is a great opportunity to do so.”
Participants of Shack City will need to bring their own materials for their shack. It is recommended that you visit stores like Walmart or a furniture store and ask for boxes that were originally going to be thrown away. The GLP also suggests bringing blankets, pillows, and other sleeping materials. The other item they want to remind everyone to bring is an open mind; this event is to gain knowledge about how to really make a difference regarding this issue.
And last, but not least, don’t forget to bring duct tape!