RACHEL, W.Va. (AP) - Colton Daft remembers when America’s homeless issue struck him for the first time.
“Our DECA organization had traveled to New York City for a conference and I remember seeing so many homeless people on the street there,” he said. “When we returned to West Virginia, I began to notice people living on the streets here, too.”
Daft, a former DECA state president, helped launched “One Night Without a Home,” an annual event that calls attention to the plight of the homeless.
Each fall, students from the Marion County Technical Center gather to spend evening hours on the street outside the center, constructing makeshift shelters from cardboard boxes or relying on flimsy tents as their only defense against the elements.
“We decided to start the event here after returning from New York. We wanted to do something to make a change or at least call attention to the homeless issue,” Daft said. “We’ve done it for several years now and everyone who participates learns that homeless people don’t have it easy by any means. Often, when you pass a homeless person, you think nothing of it. Homelessness is a terrible situation.”
One Night Without a Home begins after dark and last several hours. During that time, students get a feel for the concrete streets that homeless individuals know so well or the crude accommodations that often offer them their only shelter.
“We ask the students to put their phones away and take the time to see what it’s like to be without a home,” Daft said. “Tonight, we’re only getting a tiny sliver of what they deal with on a daily basis. We don’t really realize what these people are going through all the time.”
Daft, who has since graduated from North Marion High School and is now a theatre major at Fairmont State University, returned this year to experience One Night Without a Home with his former DECA colleagues.
DECA, which formerly stood for Distributive Education Clubs of America, is a nonprofit career and technical student organization with more than 225,000 members in all U.S. states and several countries. The high school division includes 215,000 members in 3,375 schools, according to the organization.
Setareh Gump is the current Marion County DECA chapter president. A senior at North Marion, she, too, was enlightened to the homeless problem during a club trip to another state.
“Two years ago, we went to Florida for DECA nationals and I saw several homeless populations down there, people who are terribly struggling. We’re beginning to see it here, too, more and more,” Gump said. “There here are many homeless people here in Marion County and it’s beginning to get cold outside.”
Gump said the annual DECA event is designed to get students and others to consider the predicament in which homeless individuals find themselves in, in order to help them better empathize with their quandary.
“Homelessness is not a choice most of the time. There are people who try their hardest, but still end up without a home. We all need to practice compassion and sympathy,” Gump said. “There are also some people in our own community who are on the verge of becoming homeless, but who aren’t quite there yet. We need to help them, too.”
As part of the One Night Without a Home project, the county’s DECA chapter also collected canned goods, clothing items and toiletries to provide to area homeless shelters.
DECA students will continue collecting items through Nov. 20.
Aydyn Boyce is a DECA newcomer; a freshman at North Marion who recently joined the chapter. Boyce was seated on the asphalt parking lot outside the technical center, struggling to construct a cardboard home in which he’d spend the evening.
“Homeless people have to make do with whatever they can find in order to survive,” Boyce said. “I’m going to spend some time in a box here on the sidewalk to try to get a better understanding of what the homeless go through.”
Lilaina Cavendish is a senior at North Marion and a current DECA state officer. This year marks the fourth time she has participated in the event. Her home for the evening was a small dome tent.
“From my previous experience, I’ve discovered it’s a pretty hard way to live. There are long hours. You’re pretty much cold all the time. You have to build a fire to keep warm,” Cavendish said. “Most of us are much luckier than the homeless people in Marion County and West Virginia and elsewhere.”
Brenna Wilfong, a sophomore at North Marion who is the DECA chapter’s vice president, said the event helps students better identify with issues facing homelessness, but was realistic about how much they actually replicate what homeless citizens face on a continual basis.
“I honestly won’t be able to fully experience how a homeless person feels by just doing this for one evening. In the morning, I’ll be home, safe and sound,” Wilfong said. “But I hope to get a little bit better understanding of what they go through.”
Kathy Lupo is the advisor for Marion County’s DECA chapter. Before hitting the streets for an evening, she had her students conduct research and write reports on the nation’s homeless crisis.
“Between the students’ research and being outside for an evening, they’re developing empathy and a better understanding of what homeless people are up against,” Lupo said.
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