St.Thomas students had a glimpse of what homelessness is like when they slept in boxes in the Lower Quad for an event called “Sleeping for a Solution” that started at 8:30 p.m. Friday and lasted until 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

The event was sponsored by the Undergraduate Student Government, Student Legacy Club and several businesses.

Sophomore Cassidy Stephens and senior Amanda Schultz started the event. Schultz began the event to earn service hours for her business 200 course and wanted students to have an eye-opening experience.

“A lot of [St.Thomas] students come from privileged families or have experienced better lives
than living on the street, so it is kind of nice to walk in their shoes for a night,” Schultz said.

Although 100 students signed up, the poor weather contributed to a lower turnout. About 30 students stayed the night and participated in activities both outside and inside.

“Sleeping for a Solution” raised money for St. Anne’s Place and collected food donations for Second Harvest Heartland. Schultz said they hoped to raise $5,000 and 100 bags of food. Ideally, that would mean each student brought one bag of food and $50. However, Stephens said the group raised $640 and collected 172 food items.

One of the activities had students trying to think creatively about how to spend a small budget. Students also decorated their boxes and watched an episode from “30 Days: Minimum Wage.”

Two speakers from St. Anne’s Place, an organization in North Minneapolis that houses homeless women and children while helping women find careers, spoke about their experiences and shared statistics about homelessness.

Bob Fisher, who owns a Wayzata shoe repair shop, spoke about how he sleeps outside to raise awareness for homelessness.

“Sleeping for a Solution” will keep its online donation site open all year.

“I think a lot of people are aware of homelessness,” Stephens said. “To get people motivated to do something, I think is the bigger issue.”

Kelsey Broadwell can be reached at broa3324@stthomas.edu.