Fairfield University participates in National Hunger and Homelessness Week | Press Releases

Fairfield University students will be participating in events to raise hunger and homelessness awareness during the week of Nov. 13-17.

Fairfield University's Campus Ministry Council and the Habitat for Humanity Chapter are going to help raise both hunger and homelessness awareness by sponsoring a "Cardboard City," which will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 10 p.m. Cardboard boxes will be placed outside the Chapel and students will sleep overnight in the "Cardboard City" to demonstrate the struggles of the homeless. Senior Felipe Polanco and junior Kevin Horne, leaders of Fairfield's Habitat Chapter, will be soliciting and recruiting sponsors to raise funds for a Fairfield University Habitat house.

Campus Ministry will also be sponsoring an "Oxfam Fast" that will take place on Thursday, Nov. 16. Students will be able to give up their Sodexho meals for a day. A portion of the cost of the meal is going to go towards buying food for the homeless. The fast will end with a simple meal in Campus Ministry that night at 6 p.m. By donating meals, students will realize what it is like to be hungry and homeless.

Fairfield University students have been raising awareness on campus by handing out and emailing important poverty facts like: 12% of American families live below the poverty line and 22% of those living in poverty are children. Sixty-three percent of low-income renters spent more than 50% of their income on housing. Seventy-three percent of the worlds' poor are women and two-thirds are elderly. Lastly, 1.3 billion people do not have access to clean water and two billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.