"I want you to do something that is going to impact society
for the better. What social injustice hurts you? What can you do
about it? Your assignment, in essence, is to go and change the
world." Brandon and I looked at the list of issues our
English teacher had just handed us. Among a variety of topics (Animal
abuse, world hunger, eating disorders), one hardship in particular
stuck out to us: Homelessness. "There are
over 12,000 people in Ohio that are currently
homeless. We should focus on that," Brandon said. I
agreed. The struggle had become tangible to us in the past few weeks.
We had been volunteering with an amazing ministry, Risen Son, who
travels to "Tent Cities" in downtown Columbus to love on the
men, women, and children of the area who have no where to go but the
woods. We were blown away that people just twenty minutes away from
our houses were sleeping in cardboard covered in blue tarps and tents
filled with holes in -30 degree weather. We knew that
we had to do something about it, but what? After lots of
brainstorming, we decided that our goal was to
1. Raise awareness of the homeless population in our
area and shed light on this social (and preventable) injustice
2. Raise money for Risen Son so that they can
continue to serve these precious people
3. Step outside of our comfort zones and be forced
to understand just how blessed we are
So, this is our project.
For seven days Brandon, myself, and our friends Regan, Emilie,
Courtney, Jake, and Trevor are going to be "homeless".
Obviously we are taking the necessary safety and health precautions,
but otherwise, we are going to live in tents with one sleeping bag per
person, a few bottles of water and pop tab cans of food, and endure
whatever weather comes our way. As far as where we are living, we're
considering one of our back yards or, potentially, our school court
yard (both are incredibly safe). However, that is still to be
determined. We are going to participate in daily activities such as
school, sports, and work, while wearing the same shirt all week that
says "Ask Me Why I'm Homeless". This will
create conversation, raise awareness, and probably smell terrible.
That's right, no showers. We can only use the toilet. We are going to
video blog and journal our experiences and we will share those with
you via Facebook and/or Youtube. This will also be a big part of our
final presentation, as well as shed light on the horrors of
"homelessness". We know that at the end of the day
we will never be able to completely recreate what
these people go through. But, we are trying to be as authentic as
possible. So let's get to the logistics:
We need your help. For each day that we are homeless, we are asking
others to sponsor us. You can do so in two ways:
1. Comment below to pledge a certain dollar amount
per day & specify which student you are sponsoring (i.e.: I pledge
$10 a day for Trevor every day that he is homeless).
2. Donate one lump sum ahead of time via PayPal.
Anything helps, and again,
100% of the proceeds are going back to the homeless
population of Columbus. We are incredibly excited about this
opportunity and would love to partner with you to make a difference
for real people going through real struggles just twenty minutes away
from our homes. Comment below if you are agreeing to pledge, or if you
have any questions or comments you would like to share.
Thank you for your time, interest, and investment. We are the
solution to social injustice, and it is time that we
recognize that.
"You may choose to look the other way, but never again can
you say that you did not know," William Wilberforce.
Sincerely,
Shayna Fowler, Brandon Doerfler, Regan Hanood, Emilie Alexandre,
Courtney Shaver, Jake Pineda and Trevor Huffman. Students in
Pickerington, OH.
