The Dignity Museum is a traveling exhibit in a converted shipping container that aims to educate people on homelessness and remove the stigma around poverty; it was located next to the Campus Green from Monday, Nov. 8 to Friday the 11th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
According to Love Beyond Walls Cofounder Cecilia Lester, 92 visitors came to the exhibit on opening day and tickets were free for Kennesaw State students and staff.
“What got us started was seeing this need passing by every day and thinking about what we could do,” Lester said.
The shipping container exhibit is split into three sections: “challenge stereotypes,” “create empathy” and “inspire action.” This way, visitors are not only educated about the community but about ways they can contribute.
The exhibit features stories from people who have experienced homelessness so that visitors have, “their ideas and misconceptions about housing challenged,” according to 11Alive News. Since the exhibit can be moved wherever it can reach more communities and areas people may not have considered.
Love Beyond Walls was founded in 2013 by Cecilia and Terence Lester. Their goal is to educate people on homelessness, share stories of those who have struggled and break down the walls that divide us. They were first inspired to start an organization in 2004 when they gave a homeless woman shoes and her grateful reaction moved them.
The Dignity Museum came to KSU as a part of the University’s 13th annual Homelessness Awareness Week which is organized by CARE Services. CARE stands for campus awareness, resource and empowerment and its goal is to provide food, temporary housing and other services to students in need.
“We want any student who is in need of assistance to know we’re here for them to make a potentially dark time in their lives a little easier,” The director of CARE Services Marcy Stidum said in an interview featured on the HAW website.
CARES not only provides housing assistance by giving funds to students but also by providing access to a food pantry and temporary beds in KSU housing and hotel rooms. Stidum reported in the same interview that since 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic, the organization has experienced a rise in requests, and students need to know CARES is there to help.
In order to assist and educate the students and community during Homelessness Awareness Week, KSU organized a multitude of events, all of which can be viewed at the HAW website with descriptions, including Hoot Out Hunger, Empty Bowls, Cobb County Homeless Vigil, United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Spark Prize Pitch Competition, Sleep Out Challenge, Virtual Homelessness Awareness Walk and Backpack Challenge and the Campus to Community Housing Forum.
Homelessness Awareness Week 2022 brought together many organizations including Love Beyond Walls, CARE Services, United Way of Greater Atlanta, Cobb Community Foundation and the Cobb Collaborative in order to improve our community. Educating our community on how homelessness affects those around us allows us to grow toward a brighter future and help those who may be affected by homelessness.
