LETTER: Food drive was lacking

Editor,

The recent food/clothes drive for the homeless was a fantastic effort by students. However, it was done in poor taste. I read numerous ads (including Statesman articles, banners in the Taggart Student Center and fliers) that said the activity on March 31 held on the TSC Patio and the Quad was “to raise awareness of the homeless.” The objective is great; the means by which students would spend the night outside in hopes that they would be able to understand, or in some way feel empathy for the homeless, is a farce. Along with the so-called night of homelessness, students were given free pizza, hot dogs and marshmallows! If they got bored there were live bands on hand to entertain; if the free food and music was not enough, the mayor came!

When was the last time you saw Mayor Doug Thompson out visiting the actual homeless? When was the last time you saw a homeless man or woman chowing down on hot pizza or spending the night on a meticulously cut lawn with their latest Northface sleeping bag and Columbia jacket?

I am in no way advocating that this activity was not profitable. I am sure that there were many donations offered. But why parade around in ignorance and put the mask of “night of homelessness” around the activity. Let us call it what it was, a college slumber party under the stars.

To act as if any one of those students were closer to knowing what it is like to live in poverty is outright mockery of a sad and unfortunate state of living that exists in the United States. Instead of spending money or having food donated (whichever the case may be) to college students (most of which are upper-middle class) the organizers should have stayed true to their cause and went to the homeless and offered them free pizza, hot dogs, a visit from a government official, and some entertainment. I hope everyone enjoyed their “poverty” Wednesday.

Mary McMullen