HAW was started by four faculty members at KSU who wanted to increase homelessness awareness and this year’s program will take place Oct. 8-13.
KSU HAW steering committee member and professor emeritus of criminal justice and sociology Lana Wachniak said HAW is in the process of establishing a scholarship for students who are or have been homeless at KSU.
“Although a college degree does not guarantee a job and a home, it acts as a buffer against poverty and homelessness,” Wachniak said.
Wachniak said the annual HAW program began out of “a desire to have students truly understand the lives of others who are precariously situated.”
“In my sociology classes, I would talk with students who served food to people, but did not engage these people in conversation. They were afraid of them,” Wachniak said.
Based on statistics from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 643,067 people experience homelessness each night in the United States. Of those, 238,110 are in families and 404,957 are individuals. Seventeen percent are considered chronically homeless and 12 percent, 67,000, are veterans. NAEH defines chronic homelessness as “A long-term or repeated homelessness, often coupled with a disability.”
“We want to bring voices, faces and visibility to those who are experiencing homelessness,” said Karen Heilmann, KSU HAW steering committee member and coordinator for Engaged Leadership Programs and Living/ Learning Communities.
There will be donation centers set up in the Social Science atrium on the first floor collecting clothes, non-perishable foods and personal care and toiletry items throughout the week of HAW.
Students can find out more about HAW by going to web. kennesaw.edu/csl/haw, or by visiting their Facebook page at facebook.com/ksuhaw.
