This week marks a monumental cause that affects a countless number of people worldwide. Poverty, substandard working wage, lack of housing and universal health care coverage all contribute to the global crisis of homelessness. What can you do to help with this issue? Participate in Guilford’s program for National Homelessness Awareness Week.National Homelessness Awareness Week, Nov. 12 – 17, is a national campaign to alert and educate people about homelessness. On Guilford’s campus, the aim for the project is no different. Sophomores and Bonner Hunger Fellows Sarah Crane and Gwen Madill have organized a week that they hope will engage the Guilford community more on this issue.

Madill stresses the importance of understanding homelessness. “We want to put you in the shoes of someone who is told to go from one office to the next, with no real communication. It is to simulate the frustration and feelings of someone who is lost, and feels anonymous,” Madill said.

Events for the week include a Tea & Talk session with Gail Haworth, executive director of Servant House (a transitional housing facility), presentation of a video on communities making low-income housing permanent, serving dinner at Servant House, serving Thanksgiving dinner at Pathways Family Shelter, as well as other activities throughout the week.

Getting involved in the issue is what National Homelessness Awareness Week is all about. Crane has high hopes for what the week will bring. “Gwen and I have lots of ideas of how to initiate service, discussions, and general activism with other students, but pulling these approaches together in a week of events seemed to be the best way of assuring a more lasting impression in participants,” she said.

The week is also going to be a stepping stone for what future events and paths that Guilford could take on this issue. After Homelessness Awareness Week, the outlook on what Guilford students want to do and what they are interested in will be clearer. Having a better idea of what Guilford students are interested in would shape the direction that Madill and Crane would take for organizing future projects.

Madill knows the importance of activism on Guilford’s campus and hopes that more people will be involved in fighting homelessness, “I don’t have all the answers to ending hunger and homelessness, so I think it is important to present people with information about the issue and let them decide how they fit into the solution,” she said. “There are going to be other activities related to hunger and homelessness, such as monthly dinners at Pathways. Hopefully, some people will come away from the week with a renewed drive to end homelessness.”

Crane highlights the importance of being active and taking a role to stop homelessness, which everyone can do. “I truly believe that every person because of their uniqueness can do something they love to be involved,” she said. “You could write a hand-written letter to your congressmen, have a concert that benefits the National Coalition for the Homeless, develop a media campaign, befriend the homeless woman you pass everyday on the street. I think the possibilities are endless and all valuable.”

For more information, contact Gwen Madill at x3592 or Sarah Crane at x 3210.