Before we settle in for the end of the semester, the Community Outreach Center will host Homeless Awareness Week next week, a wonderful opportunity to experience the hardships of homelessness firsthand.
We encourage students to use this occasion to transfer the energy and experiences from their spring break trips to this excellent cause. More than 130 students spent their spring breaks on SLUCAP Mission Trips, and Homeless Awareness Week will help the transition from an immersion in service to the daily routine. And for those students who did not attend a service trip, use these activities to challenge yourselves and embrace the Jesuit ideal of service for others.
As part of the services to the homeless, clothes and other goods will be donated. While you are going through your closets for spring-cleaning, lighten your load and donate your clean, wearable clothes to the COC. But while giving your old duds to a good cause, remember that human dignity does not belong to only those who can afford it. Don’t donate your old, stained clothes so that a homeless person can look soiled and disheveled. Instead, while shopping for your spring wardrobe, check the clearance tables for bargains and spend a few dollars on new items to be donated.
To fully embrace the cause of Homeless Awareness Week, get in contact with the COC and become a volunteer. They are in need of help with the activities and programs, and next week will be a great way to become involved with the cause. While providing a valuable service to the community, you will see firsthand how the other half lives and hopefully gain insight into the struggle of the homeless.
Our time at Saint Louis University should be about expanding our minds and stretching our limits, and a concern for social issues is part of our development. While Homeless Awareness Week will portray only a microcosm of the larger problem, the questions raised and experiences gained should remain long after the clothes have been distributed and the soup has been consumed.
The homeless are coming to your backyard. Embrace the opportunity to learn something about yourself and make a difference.
