On February 3, 2017, it was 17 degrees in Buffalo, NY, with ‘feels-like’ temperature of just 1 degree.
That didn’t stop 3 Villa students and two staff members from participating in Sleep Out for the Homeless, an event in which participants spent hours outside in an effort to experience how the homeless population in our community lives.
“The Sleep Out gives our students a small a taste of what it’s like to be homeless,” said Joan Mullin, Villa’s Director of Campus Ministry. “Not only were they exposed to the physical challenges homelessness, like dealing with the extreme weather, they also experienced a very small portion of the emotional challenges that the homeless deal with every single day.”
2017 Sleep Out participants include:
- Jeni Basinski, ’18, Occupational Therapy Assistant
- Michael Csizmadia, ’19, Graphic Design
- Markisha Harris, ’20, Interior Design
- Joan Mullin, Director of Campus Ministry
- DJ Schier, Director of Student Life
“The Sleep Out is an important event for our campus because it helps them relate to our core values: respect for human dignity, compassion, transformation, solidarity with the poor and justice and peace,” continued Mullin. “It’s one thing to read about these values but it’s another to put yourself in situation that allows you to experience it first hand.”
In support of the individuals sleeping out, the Villa community collected donations of blankets, non-perishable food items and clothing that were donated to St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy, a local organization dedicated to serving the poor.
