Monday, October 18, 2004
XU's shantytown builders connect with homeless
By Liz Oakes
Enquirer staff writer
EVANSTON - Amid the sounds of hammering and shaken spray-paint cans, Shannon Hughes crawled out of a round cardboard hut where she intends to spend the next four nights to dramatize the plight of the homeless.
![[img]](shanty.jpg)
Stephen Bentley, from Naples, Fl., building a nearby shanty, exits one of the shantys after inspecting the competition.
(Enquirer photo/MICHAEL E. KEATING)
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Taking a break from taping plastic sheeting to the hut's roof, the 19-year-old Xavier University student said that after a summer serving meals at a shelter in Over-the-Rhine, she has come to realize homelessness "is our problem."
Hughes' hut, adorned with blue-and-white painted messages such as "1 in 5 American children is homeless," was one of 22 shanties that student groups paid $50 each to construct Sunday on the university's academic mall.
It's the 15th year students have built a "shantytown" on campus with the goal of raising money and awareness, as well as challenging stereotypes about people who live on the street.
Public forums, panels, fund-raisers and a concert are planned this week to accompany the shantytown.
In addition, students are selling T-shirts reading, "People. Citizens. Neighbors," on the front and "without homes" on the back, for $5.
They hope to raise $5,000 from the event, with half going to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, and half to start a fund for Drop-Inn Center residents graduating from a six-month recovery program.
The new fund, to help those struggling to scrape up money for an apartment deposit, was Hughes' idea.
During the summer, the 19-year-old Mason resident interned 35 hours a week at the shelter. This fall, she's balancing school work and serving meals there twice a week.
Changing minds - and hearts - is the ultimate goal of the shantytown, several students working on huts agreed.
Jessica Becher, 20, said an eye-opener for her while volunteering at Tender Mercies in Over-the-Rhine recently was running into a homeless man who had graduated from Xavier.
"I was thinking, 'Me or a classmate of mine could end up like this,' " the St. Louis resident said.
She added, "We want people to recognize that it's not just 'the homeless.' These are citizens of our country."
If you go
Events open to the public during Xavier University's "shantytown" week:
