St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 11/23/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Lauren Lathers

Students walking past the Ray Van Den Heuvel Family Campus Center during the evening of Monday, Nov. 9 were witnesses to a complex cardboard village. The make-shift buildings were part of Habitat for Humanity's annual Shack-A-Thon in which 25 groups participated. Event coordinator Rebecca Sievers '12 said that this was "the most people that we have had in a long time." The program also raised $1200 for Habitat for Humanity through entrance fees and donations.

Shack-A-Thon was one of many events that were part of Poverty Awareness Week. The idea behind the program was that if students spent the night inside structures that that they made out of cardboard, they would become more aware of the difficulties that face the nation's homeless population every day.

Dr. Karina O'Malley, professor emeritus of sociology, told the participants that through involvement, "you are sacrificing and you are learning."

Throughout the night participants explained why they decided to take part in Shack-A-Thon.

Anthony Lio '13 said: "I never really thought it was fair that I got to live like this and there are others worse off."

Molly Boehm '13 said that her goal for the night was to "experience something outside of my comfort zone."

In addition to the symbolism of the "shacks," the event featured many speakers who gave insight on homelessness, including, Sarah Beckman and Jeff Johnson from the Green Bay Habitat for Humanity, O'Malley, and Luka Zischka '11. All hoped to alter the way that students view homelessness.

Ziscka said, "I'm telling my story because there's a misconception that people live in poverty because they did something wrong."

Sievers explained what she hoped would be the result of the event by saying: "We heard so much positive feedback about this event and can only hope that the members of the St. Norbert Community will continue on this path of creating poverty awareness not only this week, but beyond as well."

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