Monday, April 20, 2009
As rain fell early Sunday morning, six members of Tau Kappa Epsilon sat inside a makeshift cardboard shelter listening to music, drawing on the walls and chatting with each other. It was their way of raising awareness of homelessness.
From noon Friday to noon Sunday, 26 members of Tau Kappa Epsilon accepted food and monetary donations while staying in a cardboard shelter they built outside of the Hy-Vee at Kasold and Clinton Parkway.
Kris Nielsen, Leawood junior and Tau Kappa Epsilon member, said they received approximately 500 cans of food and $400 in donations. The food and money will go to Harvesters and the Lawrence Community Shelter.
Nielsen said the fraternity had never done a project like this and was happy with the turnout. He said the fraternity would probably hold the event every semester. Members took eight- to nine-hour shifts staying in the box, with five or six people on each shift.
“After being in there for eight or nine hours, it started setting in there was nothing to do,” Nielsen said. “It gave us a good scope on how real life would be if you’re homeless.”
Although Nielsen said the project helped fraternity members understand what life was like without a home, he said it wasn’t close to actually experiencing homelessness. The shelter had a rain tarp to keep them from getting wet, electricity and lawn chairs for members to sit on while they talked and listened to music inside.
“We get to relax and listen to some music,” Matt Geier, Garden City senior and Tau Kappa Epsilon member, said. “We’re a little more well off than the homeless considering we have an iPod.”
Stephen Elder, case manager and monitor at the Lawrence Community Shelter, said the shelter was thankful for any kind of help it received. He said the shelter didn’t receive much federal funding, so it relied on donations and volunteer work from the community. He said the fraternity’s method of fundraising was helpful, if untraditional.
“Anything that anybody does to get the awareness up is a good thing, even if it seems a little silly, it works,” Elder said.
Tau Kappa Epsilon contacted Hy-Vee about building the shelter and taking donations outside the store.
Scott Kahler, Hy-Vee general manager, said the store agreed to help the fraternity because it was working for a good cause. He said he was concerned about the event in the beginning, but customers were very receptive to the project. Greir said the fraternity didn’t want to depend on the greek or KU community for the project, but instead involve the entire Lawrence community.
“People were just thanking us,” Nielsen said. “But we were like ‘Really, no. Thank you for what you’re giving.’”
— — Edited by Sonya English
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