home news sports culture ideas up-to-date

You are viewing
Volume 38 Issue 6
November 21, 2000

To return to the current issue please click here.

UW students spend night homeless to raise awareness

BY EMILY DIXON
U-WIRE
Submitted November 21, 2000

SEATTLE — About 50 University of Washington students spent the night of Nov. 16 in sleeping bags on cardboard boxes in Red Square, developing an empathy for those who are truly homeless.

As part of this year’s National Hunger and Homeless Week, members of the Washington Public Interest Research Group organized the "One Night Without a Home" event.

This sleep-out was meant to raise awareness among UW students about homelessness.

Bryan Howie, the coordinator of the Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness for WashPIRG, said that WashPIRG wanted students to "realize how miserable it would be to sleep-out there every night."

It took UW senior Kenton Wise, an environmental health major, a great deal of convincing before he came out to join the crowd, but he feels that it was worth it.

"Next time I see a homeless person on the street, I’m hoping it will take on a whole new meaning to me," Wise said.

Washington joined university campuses around the nation which have been holding sleep-outs on campuses for years.

Last year, WashPIRG organized a clothing and food drive and global-awareness dinner, an event organized to help students understand how food is proportioned around the world.

Mary McCabe, an intern for the Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness for WashPIRG worked with Howie for three weeks preparing forthe Nov. 16 event.

It included a speaker who spent time living on the streets and now works for The Bread for Life Mission, a nonprofit organization that feeds the hungry daily and provides beds for 1500 people in the Seattle area.

Students then began a vigil in memory of all the children in the U.S. who have died from hunger and malnutrition.

Back to Top | Previous Page | Home