The Faces of Homelessness

Kaitlyn Lewis, News Editor

Students and faculty celebrated the seventh annual Homelessness Awareness Week at Kennesaw State University during the week of Nov. 3 through Nov. 7. KSU’s CARE Center filled the week with events intended to educate students about homelessness and allow them to get a glimpse of it themselves.

The week brought about much discussion, in which many students were involved. A group from a freshman learning community called “Be the Change” raised awareness for the homeless for a class project by setting up a display on the Campus Green Nov. 6. The freshmen asked students to participate in their display by using their handprints on a black poster board. A red handprint symbolized awareness for homelessness, and a pink handprint meant the participant was honoring a homeless individual that he or she knew.

Freshman nursing major Nadia Atkinson, one of the students from the learning community, said she chose to do this class project because she believes homelessness is an important issue, and she knows someone who is homeless.

Atkinson said her 24-year-old cousin, who has an 8-year-old daughter, has experienced homelessness numerous times.

“Just jumping from trying to find someone…looking for places for them to lay their heads and relying on people, I see that [my cousin’s] pride is shut down because it feels bad to be an adult and have to rely on people for your livelihood, and I see how much it hurts her,” Atkinson said.

Freshman psychology major Jeff Skinner participated in the learning community project and said he also knew someone who was homeless.

“She’s really close to me, she had some troubles with her husband’s addiction and everything,” Skinner said. “And they were living in a really nice, high class neighborhood, and just all of a sudden, [she] and her three kids just got put on the street.”

Students also participated in the homelessness awareness “sleep out,” which took place in the field outside of the Social Sciences Building. Students brought backpacks, sleeping bags and tents; and they camped out for two nights in the cold, windy fall weather.

The Salvation Army, a non-profit organization in Atlanta, came out to serve meals to the students participating in the sleep out.

“This is going to be my event every year,” said Thomas Thompson, a lead case worker for the Salvation Army. Thompson and two of his clients served meals to the students camping out on campus.

“My thing is to bring awareness to the face of homelessness,” Thompson said.

Students who came to participate in the sleep out checked in with the faculty hosting the event. Laila Smith, manager of the Center for Student Leadership operations and first year leadership, said students would be breathalyzed before they could participated and explained that homeless people are usually breathalyzed before they can enter a shelter.

Once students were registered for the sleep out, they were given a real-life scenario, which required some to appear in a mock trail held in the Social Sciences Building. Freshman nursing major Kianna Taylor said her scenario said she had to go the mock trial for being in a fight.

“Honestly, students have been surprised about the faces of homelessness,” said Dr. Lana Wachniak, a retired professor of sociology and criminal justice who was one of the founders of KSU’s annual Homelessness Awareness Week. Dr. Wachniak said around 25 to 30 KSU students have come to the CARE Center this year to register as homeless and seek help. However, she believes there are more homeless students on campus who have yet to come forward.

Dr. Wachniak and her husband, former director of Human Resources at KSU, William Wallace, were also founders of the new 20/4/1 Homelessness Awareness Scholarship, which has been awarded to one student this semester, Angela Carr.

Wallace said it has taken three and a half years to fund the $20,000 scholarship, and he has already helped fund another scholarship at Georgia Southern University for single mothers.

“I’ve just always believed in the old [saying], ‘To whom much is given, much is required,’” Wallace said. “So that’s why we do this—it doesn’t matter who gets credit. It’s important that you show affection and you help those in need.”

During the second and last night of the sleep out, Friday, Nov. 7, a vigil was held on campus in honor of six homeless people in Cobb County who had passed away in 2013 and 2014.

“[The vigil] is a way to remember them,” said Karen Carter, Executive Director of the Cobb Community Collaborative, which works with many non-profit organizations. Carter said that, “quite often, that because they’re in homelessness, there’s no family locally,” so a proper a proper funeral is not provided for them.

The Cobb Community Collaborative counted 379 homeless people living in Cobb County January 2014.