The last thing a college student wants to do is sleep in a box, but University students used cardboard and duct tape to raise homeless awareness Saturday night. About 128 students constructed cardboard shelters in the field on campus in front of the Natatorium.
Some participants got creative with their cardboard boxes and made structures such as a fort, a Hawaiian hut and a Smurf house.
The event was meant to help students become aware of some of their peers’ homeless situations by sleeping in a box over night.
Dustine Lail and Nicholas Totaro, both freshmen, started “Sleep in a Box” this past year at their high school in Lafayette. This year, they created the organization Lataro Foundation, which was established to benefit the 13 homeless awareness departments in Louisiana.
Lataro Foundation brought the event to the University for the first time. The event was sponsored by the Residential Hall Association.
Many groups from the University were represented, including RHA, ROTC and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
Totaro said he was pleased with the turnout for a first-time event at the University.
“It’s enough people to make a difference,” Totaro said.
The $10 registration fee to participate in the event and the $5 fee to watch was donated to the Homeless Awareness Department of East Baton Rouge Parish.
Totaro said the event raised a little more than $4,000.
Although the event was geared to raise homeless awareness in the state, the students were not deprived of comforts and entertainment such as food, music and video games.
The event educated the participants about homelessness when two former homeless women shared their testimonies at 2:30 a.m. Also, fliers about different homeless awareness departments were given to all participants.
“We are tying to raise awareness; there are actually people out there who live in boxes,” said Joe Robert, history senior.
Terrell Carter, computer science junior, said once they heard about the event, they could not pass up the opportunity.
Patrick Haggarty, business junior, said he had friends involved, and he decided at the last minute to participate so he built a shelter by himself.
“Sleeping on wet cardboard opened my eyes,” Haggarty said. “I realized what homeless people probably go through every single night.”
Most of the shelters did not endure the night.
“The houses slowly caved in as the night progressed,” said Greg Keller, marketing freshman. “I didn’t go to sleep because it wasn’t very comfortable.”
Keller said he plans to bring a cot to sleep on next year.
—-Contact Joy Lukachick [email protected]