UCO Students Live in Shacks to Raise Poverty Awareness

By Melissa Maynarich, NEWS 9

EDMOND, Oklahoma -- Edmond college students braved the elements, including near freezing temperatures Monday night to see what's it's like to live like the homeless.

Students at UCO are living in cardboard shacks this week hoping to raise poverty awareness in an event called the Shack-a-thon.

So far they've been outside since Sunday afternoon when they began building their makeshift homes.

It doesn't take much to build a village. But it does take a special person to voluntarily live in a homemade of a thin sheet of plywood or cardboard.

"Invariably it rains, invariably shacks blow over," said Josh Krawczyk with the UCO Volunteer and Service Learning Center. "We've had tornado warnings. It gets really dicey. It gets cold."

It was 36 degrees in the metro overnight, but the college students have to overcome the distractions of living outside.

And the students begged for money. They're doing it to raise the understanding of homelessness for those passing by. And perhaps it will change their perspectives forever.

"I live in the dorms and so, someone cleans my bathroom, I have heating, air conditioning, everything I could need and it's just cool to come out here and just get the perspective of what it would be like to not have everything," UCO student Christina Beverage said.

The environment is controlled. Safety is intact with extra law enforcement supervision.

"They have food, they have blankets and it they need to go in and shower they can, so this is simulated poverty," Lyndsay Holder with the UCO Volunteer and Service Learning Center said.

Still, the simulated poverty in the temporary village is having an impact.

"I was willing to go through just a little bit, but they go through this every day, and some of them don't have the option to go somewhere else or to do something else with their lives because they just don’t' have anything," student Melissa Chambers said.

The students are also fasting this year. They started at noon Tuesday and will go without food for 24 hours. Wednesday for lunch they will be fed porridge, a typical meal that the Feed the Children charity serves those who are hungry.