Box City spotlights issue of homelessness
By Josselyn Berry, May 2009
Features Editor
“One of the worst parts of the day was waking up and knowing that the situation was still there to deal with,” says Derrick Crowell, about his experience with homelessness. Crowell, a Paradise Valley Community College student and member of Emerging Leaders, spoke to a crowd gathered for Box City, an event held at PVCC on March 31 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Box City, sponsored by PVCC’s Emerging Leaders, raised awareness and money for the homeless population. According to the 2007 National Alliance to End Homelessness Report, 10,000 to 25,000 people in Arizona were homeless and an estimated 671,859 people nationwide were homeless on any given night.
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Photo by Josselyn Berry
At the Box City fundraising event for the homeless on March 31, Ryan Martin, PVCC's student life and leadership program specialist, helps sell ceramic bowls made by art students, at the Empty Bowls table. |
Set up outside between the library and Student Union, Box City featured cardboard boxes and a pledge wall where 100 students signed pledges promising to help in their communities or buy a homeless person a hot meal. Partners in Art were also selling their colorful, handmade ceramic bowls to raise money. Students could buy bowls for $5 and then receive a bowl of soup. At a cost of $3, students were also able to make their own shirts.
Ryan Martin, student life and leadership program specialist says of the event, “We thought it was a great service project that could be done right now because of the economic crisis that’s going on.”
Box City earned $1,266 and accumulated around 300 pounds of clothing, all of which will go to St. Vincent de Paul.
Hugo Polanco, a volunteer with St Vincent de Paul, says, “With the economy the way it is, our budgets have shrunk, but the populations we serve have grown.”
Emerging Leaders members regularly volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul and sent all donations and clothes to its organization. Box City also had 133 student signatures on a petition to send to the Arizona State Legislature to protest cuts on social services.
Student Leadership Council and Emerging Leaders are currently trying to decide whether or not to annually do Box City or alternate by doing different events for poverty and homelessness each year.
To become involved with Emerging Leaders and events like this, contact Ryan Martin or Helice Agria in the Student Life office located in the Student Union.
As Crowell says, “Service is addicting. When you experience helping somebody and the direct change you can have, you want more.”
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