30 students spend night in Shanty Town

November 24, 2008 by Geoff Fisk 

Second annual Shanty Town event enlightens students
 
Students brave enough to endure the elements in 45-degree weather got a taste of what it’s like to be homeless in Las Vegas during UNLV’s second annual Shanty Town event.

A group of 30 UNLV students battled cold and wet conditions on the North Field Thursday night, equipped with nothing but cardboard boxes, a few sleeping bags and blankets. The event, designed to simulate the conditions that the homeless face on an everyday basis, challenged students to spend the night outdoors, away from life’s normal luxuries.

Cell phones or iPods weren’t allowed, and the event required students to spend 12 hours, from 7 p.m. Thursday to 7 a.m., with very little defense from the cold. According to Program Coordinator Jacob Murdock, 25 students made it through the night, with five attendees bailing out early.

Those who made it through to sunrise went home with a new perspective about life on the streets.

“I thought it was going to be all warm and sunny,” sophomore Irene Zepeda said. “We had our blankets, had our pillows. But somehow it was really cold. I slept on my side and my face hurts.”

After spending a few hours setting up boxes and blankets to begin the evening, students settled in on the wet grass for a screening of a movie detailing the lives of homeless teenagers. 

The film, titled “Life Beyond the Lights,” allowed attendees to grasp the fact that, for some young people, life on the streets is an inescapable reality.

“It’s not an event for everyone,” said Murdock, who serves UNLV’s Student Involvement and Activities as the program coordinator for service programs.

“A lot of the events that take place on campus are always a lot of fun, very social. There were aspects of that to this event, but really it’s an event where you really want to get that experience.”

He added, “That’s one of the reasons that the documentary that was shown last night on homeless teens — I think that impacts college-age students a little more, because they’re like ‘hey, these people are younger than I am in most cases and they’re fending for themselves on the streets.’”

Murdock, who also serves as an adviser to the Rebel Service Council, said the idea to stage a Shanty Town at UNLV came about last year, and after a successful event in November 2007, organizers decided to do it again this year. Running concurrently with National Hunger and Homelessness Week, attendance for this year’s event nearly doubled 2007 attendance.

While those attending knew they were in for a rough night, the bitter cold and unforgiving conditions still took many by surprise.

“It was cold, you can’t imagine how cold it was,” said Daniel Gonzalez, a senior political science major who estimated that he got about eight minutes of sleep during the night.  ”The grass is so cold, it just went right through the cardboard. It felt like it was wet and the cardboard absorbed all of that.”

Junior Zach Substanley, who attended the event for the second year in a row, set up his housing for the night on the concrete next to a Central Desert Complex building and slept better than most.

“Last year I was here and we had a guest speaker that said the best place was right next to a building, right against the wall, typically on the concrete or something hard, because concrete retains heat, and the grass is cold,” Substanley said.

“Unfortunately I couldn’t help out everyone else by enlightening them because I came later. I was also able to find some cardboard and things like that over by the Dumpster.”

Students had access to hot chocolate, tomato soup and chicken soup simulating the types of meals that might be available at a homeless shelter.

“That was something that came from the students last year, trying to make it as meager as possible,” Murdock said. “You don’t get full course meals when you’re living on the street.”

Freshman Eric Alcantar had to rise at around 6:30 a.m. and begin getting ready for Friday morning class, while others had to go home and quickly clean up for a day shift at work. For all involved, the Shanty Town event was an eye-opening experience.

“We can talk a lot, but until you walk the walk it’s kind of difficult to realize,” Gonzalez said. “I’m still feeling a little bit hyper, but if I had to do this every night I would die.”