Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

A taste of reality

Area high schoolers brave chilly night for life lesson

By LINDA TAYLOR

With temperatures dipping into the 30s and a stiff north wind making it feel even colder, students from four area high schools got a taste last weekend of what being homeless is like on a night when the weather is a foe.

About 400 students from Central, Keller, Fossil Ridge and Northwest high schools spent the night outside Nov. 14 at Keller ISD Athletic Complex. They had only their clothes, some blankets and cardboard boxes to shield them from the elements.

The all-night event, Homeless Awareness Night, was an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless.

"Spending eight hours out in the cold doesn’t really show the students what the homeless population of Tarrant County faces on a daily basis, but it does give them some inkling of how difficult it is to cope with life on the streets," said Cyndi Bunch, founder of Phillip’s Wish, a local nonprofit which collects blankets to give to the homeless.

Homeless Awareness Night is sponsored by the student councils from each of the schools and is a major fundraiser for Phillip’s Wish.

"I think it is just wonderful that this many students were willing to give up their Friday night to sleep in the cold and raise money for people they don’t even know," Bunch said. "This was our biggest year yet, and I am so proud of the students who were there."

According to weather forecasts, that night was the coldest of the year, so far. But, Bunch said, the weather was nothing compared to that of the night of the inaugural event three years ago when "the temperature got down to 20 and it sleeted."

"That night," she said, "the kids really got a taste of what it is like to live on the street."

Keller High School student council sponsor Katie Keyes said the event is popular with students, who see it as an opportunity to do something for the homeless population.

"I think the students learn a lot about the challenges facing the homeless at these events," Keyes said. "By spending the night out in the weather, especially when it is really cold like it was this time, they begin to get a small understanding of just what it is like to be homeless. And that is the whole point – to raise awareness about the homeless."

This year, students raised approximately $4,000 and collected about 1,500 blankets for Phillip’s Wish to distribute on Dec. 13.

To Keyes, those amounts are an example of the students’ generosity.

"The kids at Fossil and Central have just completed a big canned food drive and another fundraiser for charity, plus all three schools have angel trees," she said. "Yet they continue to give. That just shows me that our kids are concerned about others and want to help."

Linda Taylor is a special contributor to The Keller Citizen.