Have you ever wondered what it is like to live each day without food and without a regular place to stay for the night? Ten people from the Rensselaer Society of Engineers, Alpha Phi Alpha, and nearby communities experienced that feeling last week during Alpha Phi Alpha’s seventh annual Sleepout for the Homeless. For 77 hours from Tuesday to Friday, participants sleeping outside at night were not permitted to eat any food—aside from what had been donated—or to take showers or baths. They were obligated to maintain their studies and to attend classes, however.
Money from donations to the sleepout will benefit Joseph’s House and Shelter in Troy. The annual sleepout “[raises] awareness [of] the issues of homelessness,” said Bruce A. Elliot ’03, president of Alpha Phi Alpha and treasurer of the Interfraternity Council. “It’s a serious issue when [someone] has nowhere to sleep at night or does not know where their next meal is coming from.”
Participation in this year’s sleepout was not just limited to adults. Devon Osterhout, a 12-year-old from Troy, also volunteered his time. “I got to feel how the homeless [feel] ... I got an idea, but it wasn’t to the fullest extent.” Devon, who currently is enrolled in the sixth grade at Waterford Half Moon School, got involved in the sleepout through the recyling business that he owns. The money he makes from recyling is paying his tuition at La Salle School, a private boys school that he will be attending as a seventh grader next fall. “It was a lot of work. It’s not small work ... He’s learning the hard way of a business, and he’s trying to pick up customers all the time,” said Devon’s mother, Aloma.
A number of campus fraternities have pledged their support for this year’s sleepout through member participation in the event and by making monetary contributions to the effort. The Sisters of Pi Beta Phi donated food for participants to eat during the sleepout.
Since last week $910.60 out of a pledged $1,009.38 has already been collected by Alpha Phi Alpha. Those who have pledged money and have not already brought it, should bring their donations to tables in the DCC on Thursday. New pledges for donations can also be made to collectors there.
