Students forgo comforts of home for charity

For 60 years, Campus Kitty has been Hendrix College's way of doing its part when it comes to helping local charities.

However, there is one part of this annual event that does a little more than raise funds.

Hendrix students Angela Bennett, left, and Malena Outhay visit while holding a vigil for the homeless during the school Campus Kitty event. Students from 11 a.m. Tuesday till 11 a.m. today will camp out in hopes to bring awareness and raise donations. LIBERTY PARKS PHOTO

A group of Hendrix students gathered on the grass near Washington Avenue at 11 a.m. Tuesday and intended to stay there until 11 a.m. today for the school's Homeless Vigil.

Taylor Adams, Hendrix junior, said Tuesday the students' decision to stay outside overnight, forgoing the regular comforts of home, symbolizes the struggles homeless people go through each night.

"Our event is the one that is actually more about the cause of Campus Kitty, not the solution," Adams said. "We just want to use this as a message to the Hendrix campus because this demographic isn't exactly the one that needs charity. We want students to understand what it's like."

Personal tents lined the west side of campus, along with a larger tent that housed a line of tables and dozens of grocery bags full of non-perishable items.

While the tables served as homework space for the students who intended to spend the night, the food was more than a late-night snack for participants.

"The food we have today is only three or four car loads of the enormous total of donations we received this year," Adams said. "Most of the food is going to the Bethlehem House in town and this year, because we collected so much, we have enough to share with the local food pantry, too."

Adams said the Homeless Vigil committee collected the items both from local grocery stores and residents' homes. He said the group left empty paper sacks at various locations and picked them up, stuffed with food, a week later.

Taylor said he estimates the group collected 3,980 food items, valued at $5,570, to distribute.

Aside from the annual food drive, the Homeless Vigil also featured a lunch demonstration and speakers who planned to discuss their own battles with homelessness.

"During our lunch event, students were given sheets of paper that either designated them as food secure, food insecure or hungry and then the portions of food they were given represented that state," Adams said. "We just wanted this to show students how hunger affects people everyday in our area."

Featured speakers included Jay Barth, Hendrix professor who planned to discuss homelessness and poverty in Arkansas, Kittie Aaron, executive director of the Conway Interfaith Clinic, and clients of the Bethlehem House to tell their personal stories.

Hendrix junior Angela Bennett said the reason she decided to stake out on the grass Tuesday was to learn how to better appreciate what she has.

"Hearing these speakers and staying out here is just a way for me to appreciate my own life and also teach me ways I can help those who go without," Bennett said.

Both Bennett and freshman Malena Outhay, who also participated in the vigil, said the best thing about the event was that it was open to anyone who wanted to get involved.

"This event teaches the community more about our problems, but in a way that they can do something about it, not just learn about it," Bennett said.

(Staff writer Jessica Bauer can be reached by e-mail at jessica.bauer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)