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KSU Students Reflect on Homelessness

Students braved the rain and wind to sleep outside at the KSU campus.

It was a raw night last night as about 25 students and some of their family members braved the elements to see what it feels like to be homeless.

As part of its fourth annual Homelessness Awareness Week, Kennesaw State University is holding the sleep-out until noon on Saturday. Students constructed "tents" out of cardboard boxes and plastic garbage bags as the rains pounded down on them and soaked everything they tried to create.

"Even the experience of getting rained on shows us what the homeless population experiences," said Kaelinn Smith, a freshman sociology major at KSU from Smyrna. "I'm doing this because I've known homeless people and I wanted to experience what it's like to live in their shoes."

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According to the event website, students play the roles of homeless individuals who must find food and shelter while attempting to go to school. Teachers, faculty and other students play the roles of police, court personnel and social service workers. No electronics equipment is allowed.

Freshman Michael Farris of Vinings said his recent studies in sociology at KSU have changed his mind about today's homeless. "I used to look at them like trash—just a bunch of drunks who can't get a job," said Farris. "But now I have a new appreciation of how easy it is to become homeless."

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KSU sophomore Dee Merrill of Dallas sat in the pouring rain with her two kids and explained why they were at the event. "I was homeless at age nine, so I wanted my kids to experience this at their age," said Merrill. Her children, ages 8 and 10, sat with garbage bags on while the rain pelted down. "I also want them to help others and realize how fortunate they are."

The Georgia Alliance to End Homelessness was also at the event, and program director Tom Plamann said the sleep-out is a good education for students. "The homeless person is not the wino holding up signs on the road," said Plamann. "It's families living in cars, runaway youth and, yes, even KSU students here who just sleep in their cars."

Plamann's organization is headquartered in Marietta and attends several of these homelessness awareness events annually. "The rain adds a realistic component to this one," said Plamann. "Families are living in conditions like this because there are not enough shelter beds, no more family resources, no jobs, no house. It's a very real situation in the metro-Atlanta area these days."

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