By hosting various activities such as the sleepout, members of the group hope to raise student awareness and concern. Cristina Morales '06, coordinator of the campaign, said she hopes the campaign will demonstrate that homelessness is prevalent in all communities.
"Our goal is to increase awareness on campus about the continuing existence of homelessness not far away from our own bubble," Morales said. "[We hope to] raise funds to support Jessie's House, a homeless shelter in Northampton."
The Amherst group asked people to sponsor the sleepout as they would a marathon by donating money for every hour a friend spent outside. The group also asked people to help sponsor simply by sending money to the MassPIRG mailbox, number 2056.
As part of the sleepout, the awareness group invited guest speaker Robert Chamberlain, who spoke about his experience as foreign minister of Sanctuary City, or Tent City, a community in Springfield composed of people who slept outside for months during warmer weather. Sanctuary City recently dissolved after a warming shelter opened for people to spend the night.
"We have stepped away from the precedents by using it as a fundraiser as well as bringing in a speaker," said Morales.
The campaign also featured a banquet on Monday night for individuals who gave up their Valentine meals for the day. For each student who gave up his or her meals, Valentine agreed to donate money to a local charity. Food at the banquet was donated by Trader Joe's, Stop & Shop, Big Y, La Veracruzana, Henion Bakery, Sugar Jones and Antonio's. "They were pretty generous," Morales said.
In addition to the dinner, Professor of Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies Kristin Bumiller shared her knowledge about hunger in the country. "We wanted to also inform," explained Josette Manzano '07, an intern for the Hunger & Homelessness campaign.
The campaign hosted the banquet in order to raise enough money for a soup kitchen in Northampton to be able to expand the number of meals available to people who need them.
The Group will show "Salaam Bombay," a movie about homelessness in Bombay as part of the campaign. Tomorrow the Group will host "Voices of the Homeless." The event welcomes three panelists who are homeless or have been homeless before to share their experiences. The talk will be moderated by an individual from ARISE, an organization for social justice.
In general, there is great optimism about the impact of the campaign. "I think it's great," said Manzano. "It's significant and it is important in general."