Students raise awareness of the homeless
By KATE SCHOTT kschott@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – During last year's sleep-out, icicles formed in the box Sarah Verkler was spending the night in.
Granted last year's sleep-out – an event held to raise awareness of homelessness – was held on a night when it was below freezing. For this year's sleep-out, which was held Friday night through this morning in a parking lot at Hopkins Park, the National Weather Service predicted a temperature of 47 degrees.
The annual sleep-out has been held for at least the last decade: Local high school students spend a night sleeping outside in cardboard boxes to raise awareness of homelessness. They also collect food and clothing items, which are then donated to local shelters.
"It helps people relate to what they go through," DeKalb High School junior Aly Fry said Friday evening.
Students from Key Clubs, which is a service club, take part. This year, students from DeKalb and Sycamore high schools attended the event. Community members were invited to drop off donations during the evening, and students collected items prior to the event as well.
"During times like this there are more homeless people than we like to admit," said David Elliott, an industrial technology teacher at DHS and adviser to that school's Key Club.
Elliott said he hopes taking part in the sleep-out will be an experience that stays with the students as a lesson to help others.
Students came prepared for the night, dressed in layers of clothing and armed with blankets or sleeping bags to use when they head to bed. Ryan Balentyne, a senior at Sycamore, went around to area stores to ask for boxes to sleep in. Students planned to tape them together to form a cardboard city, he said.
Verkler, a senior at Sycamore, is the lieutenant governor for the state district DeKalb's and Sycamore's Key Clubs are in. She said she hopes students come away with an appreciation for what they have.
"I hope they realize how lucky they are," she said. "And I hope they help out at the homeless shelters around here, now that they know what it's like."
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