Love shack
The wind crashes rain against the tarps lining the windows of the Phi Sigma Pi shack. Jeniffer Manon pushes the door covering aside while opening her umbrella, and steps into the rain.
‘Even though it’s raining, it really encourages us to be here,’ said Manon, a senior psychology and child and family studies major. ‘We know how affected people get when they don’t have adequate housing, and it is important students witness what goes on just beyond campus.’
The three-day, two-night Shack-A-Thon concluded Friday afternoon, with clear skies. The joint event, held by the Syracuse University/State University of New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry chapter of Habitat for Humanity, aimed to give a physical example of what low-income housing looks like by lining the Quad with 12 wooden shacks. Students spent all day and night in the shacks distributing fliers about homelessness in Syracuse.
Darren Goldberg, a television, radio and film major and vice president of University Union, said the event presented a side of Syracuse life students don’t see in the classroom.
‘As a large student organization on campus we definitely feel it’s necessary to show it to the students of our organization and other student organizations that there is more to the university than programming,’ Goldberg said.
The event ended in a press conference and advocacy rally. Suzanne Williams, executive director of Syracuse Habitat for Humanity, was one of the speakers at the press conference.
‘It gives people an idea what people in this country go through,’ she said. ‘These shacks are not much different from homes you will find around the country. In fact, many of these are better put together than the things people live in. So it’s important for people to get an idea of what substandard housing really looks like.’
For the advocacy rally, students worked together to make large banners listing facts about homelessness. Mary Marolla, a senior public relations major, and Kristen Putch, a senior newspaper journalism major, shared a new idea for the banners in hopes of adding a more personal side to the statistics.
‘We came up with the idea for having people trace their hands on this banner on the spot,’ Marolla said.
Putch added that, ‘The hands represent a sort of coming together. They are a symbol of everyone coming together to end poverty in America. If people don’t get off the Hill, they don’t see how many people are living below the poverty line. We want to show the press that all of the Syracuse University campus is united for this cause.’
Brian Spendley, president of the SU/ESF chapter of Habitat for Humanity and one of the Shack-A-Thon leaders, said he had two goals for the event: to raise awareness about poverty and to raise money to build a new house at 619 Tully St. Spendley said he heard some controversy about why Habitat for Humanity is working to build a new house rather than refurbish an existing one.
‘The costs are more effective to start something from scratch than it is to go into a 1900s house and revamp it,’ Spendley said. ‘Building a new house also gives people a sense of pride; they are homeowners of a brand new house for the first time. It makes sense financially, but it also makes sense for the families.’
Spendley said Habitat for Humanity needs $60,000 to finish construction on the Tully Street house.
While the rain poured on the Quad, Hendricks Chapel filled with organ music as it hosted 26 poster-size images from the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. One showed a young Guatemalan boy holding the doorknob of his family’s brand new house. Another portrayed smiling volunteers erecting walls in a damaged Louisiana home.
The goal of the exhibit was to make people even more aware of what Habitat for Humanity is doing to fight homelessness around the world.
Back on the Quad, students handed out fliers explaining the importance of ending substandard housing. Jacob Bartholomew, a cultural foundations of education graduate student, said he hopes students will remember poverty issues in this year’s election.
‘Affordable housing for people is something that always gets swept under the rug and unnoticed,’ Bartholomew said. ‘That’s why this campaign for Habitat for Humanity is so important.’
Williams agrees students should be in direct contact with government officials.
‘Students should remember to keep poverty housing on their mind,’ Williams said. ‘They should contact members of the government and tell them to abolish substandard housing around the world and especially here in Syracuse. The government can spend millions of dollars on war, but we can end poverty housing today with just a portion of that money.’
By 5 p.m. on Friday, only half of the shacks remained on the Quad. The rest were transported to families around the Syracuse area. While some of the shacks left imprints in the damp grass, Spendley said he hopes the Shack-A-Thon leaves a lasting impression on both SU students and members of the local community.
