By LINDSAY
DOXTANDER
Conrtibuting Writer
Cardboard boxes will become makeshift shelters on the quad on Thursday Nov. 9. The structures will house students experiencing and learning about some of the challenges of homelessness.
The Not-Your-Usual Sleep-Out for Those Who Are Homeless event lets participants simulate homelessness for a night by sleeping outdoors in cardboard boxes. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary and runs until midnight, but participants are welcome to stay overnight to try and get the full experience.
AnnaRose Fragale introduced this event to Saint Rose 3 years ago. Fragale brought this tradition along with her from her high school in The Bronx. Her high school used to run this event for anyone who wanted to learn more about what it would be like to be homeless, and taught that anyone could become homeless. Fragale was inspired by this and wanted to continue the tradition in college. This will be the third year that the event takes place on
campus. While Fragale knows that simulating homelessness is not the same as being homeless, she believes that it will bring awareness to the growing issue of homelessness which occurs right outside the Saint Rose campus.
“This event is not about acting as if a few hours outside is just like being homeless, nor is it supporting the stereotype that the homeless live in boxes,” said Fragale. “It is about getting a tiny idea of what it is like to have no place to go when it’s cold outside, and using cardboard boxes to create a public message about homelessness.”
The goal of the event is to raise awareness for people who don’t have shelter, not to make light of their situation.
“We don’t force people to stay overnight, because often we find that even after being outside for just an hour, you understand that this is not a life you’d want to live,” said Director of the Campus Ministry, Joan Horgan.
Horgan and Fragale’s goal in hosting this event is to teach people both the big and small things that they can all do to help and be in solidarity with the 3,000 plus homeless people in the Albany area. Multiple speakers from several shelters come and speak to the students and staff involved and educate them on homelessness in America and offer surprising and often saddening facts about people who live their lives without shelter.
When individuals arrive, they are given a handful of money in the form of pennies and nickels to pay for food and drinks at the sleep-out. After that, they learn that their home for the night will be a cardboard box, and they go on to build their homes with tape. They are given the option at any point in the night to go inside the sanctuary to warm up, although some choose to stay outside for the entire event. For people who need to warm up indoors, there are movies and documentaries running about people who live like this every day in the main room of the sanctuary. Participants are allowed to decorate their boxes. Both Horgan and Fragale said that most people write and paint facts and statistics about the homeless on their boxes for passersby to see.
Sarah and Kayla Franzken, twin sisters who are very involved in student affairs and spiritual life at the college, attended the event last year and said that it is a beneficial and educational event that got them thinking.
“It was an eye-opening event, all though it was very sad,” said Kayla, a communications major. ”It opened our eyes to see that not everyone is as fortunate as we are. We are fortunate enough to go to college, to eat, to sleep in a comfortable bed. Not everyone is as privileged as we are.”
The sisters attended with Fragale and decorated their boxes with a quote that read, “Who are we as human beings if we ignore the suffering of others?” and they stayed outside longer than anyone else at the event, past midnight.
“Once I felt the cold, I was about to complain, and then I stopped myself. I did this because I realized people deal with these kinds of cold temperatures every day, and here I am, outside for a moment, in a warm jacket,” said Sarah. “I know life is such a blessing, and I am grateful for it. But sometimes I forget how grateful I should be. It is nice to be reminded.”
