Homelessness Awareness Week concluded with its annual Sleep Out Challenge from Friday, Nov. 5 to Saturday, Nov. 6, which challenged participants to spend the night like many unhoused or unstably housed people do on a nightly basis.
This year, the challenge was held in a simulated homeless shelter on the Kennesaw State Marietta campus. Most people in attendance, which was about twenty people, slept on cots or on the floor inside the Joe Mack Wilson Student Center ballroom. Others slept outside in their cars. Two students even slept in a tent outdoors in 39-degree weather experiencing what so many people do in the colder seasons.
The event began with a candlelight memorial vigil and service of remembrance honoring individuals who passed due to homelessness. Speakers including AmeriCorps VISTA and CARE Services employee Mandy Gillis and Cobb Legal Aid housing navigator Donna Ross relayed the weight of this issue. Ross revealed that upwards of 300 people in Cobb County alone are living in homelessness and that the actual number is suspected to be much higher, according to a 2021 Cobb Collaborative count.
Participants then lined up to be served dinner by volunteer student leaders to begin the simulated homeless shelter experience. Dinner consisted of leftovers from The Stingers dining hall in aluminum containers: chicken, egg rolls, collard greens, ratatouille and cookies along with bottled water. No one was given notice of what would be served, the same as any soup kitchen. If someone had a dietary restriction they may have simply gone hungry that night.
After everyone was finished eating, attendees were put into groups to participate in an online poverty simulator called Spent. In this simulator players are told they are down to $1,000 without a place to live, food or a job. Each group was given the task of making unanimous decisions on where to work and live, how much money to spare on medical expenses and how to afford insurance. One group reported having run out of money in eighteen days while another made it to the end of one month with less than $50.
One player, sophomore Charlisa Ben, described the experience as “eye opening” even with prior knowledge of the situation.
Lights out was enforced at 11 p.m. sharp to reflect the rules of an average shelter. According to a The Atlanta Voice video shown after dinner, many homeless shelters have strict curfews and do not allow anyone inside after that time.
The only bedding provided is a finite number of cots indoors and tents outdoors, so the remaining comfort is reliant upon attendants’ own belongings.
In the morning, student leaders turned the lights on at 7:05 a.m. and woke students to a small spread of breakfast bars, mini muffins and canned coffee.
Founder of KSU CARE Services, Marcy Stidum, closed out the event with a reminder to be compassionate and respectful towards those facing homelessness this season and onward.
