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During the coldest part of winter, students have decided to sleep outside. The University of Maine Chapter of Habitat for Humanity will construct a shanty on the mall for the second annual There’s Snow Place Like Home fundraiser from Feb. 8 to 11.
Members of Habitat will bundle up in sleeping bags provided by MaineBound and rough the weather to raise awareness of substandard housing in the Bangor area and raise funds to benefit building projects for the Bangor Habitat for Humanity.
“We do the extreme to show the extreme that some of the poor may be experiencing not just for three nights, but the entire winter,” said Habitat Co-President Amanda Missud, a third-year business management major.
In Maine, over 25 percent of renter households are considered “extremely low-income households,” meaning the household earns 30 percent or less of the state’s median income, according to a study conducted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 2009. The same study reports that on average, there are 52 available and affordable rental units for every 100 extremely low-income households.
“Maine is a huge state and most of the students on this campus don’t see the parts of the Bangor area that are in need of help. We try to remind the community that they are surrounded by those in need,” Missud said.
“Last year was definitely a success and I think it will be even stronger this year,” said Habitat Co-president Meghan McCarthy, a third-year management and finance major. “For some reason we didn’t fundraise until very late, so hopefully that will change this year and we’ll have everything more organized — and I hope we will have a stronger shanty this year. There were leaks in the shanty last year so I think it was uncomfortable for some [of the members] at times.”
During the day, Habitat members will sit around a fire pit, getting up periodically to approach students and faculty members with donation cans.
“It’s hard to ask for donations from students, but they are more likely to drop a dollar into a bucket if we are sleeping outside in the freezing cold. It’s hard to spread the word through voice and flyers. It’s a lot easier to see what we are doing,” Missud said.
This year, seven or eight members plan to sleep in the shanty — an increase from last year, when only half that number participated in the fundraiser, according to McCarthy.
“This year we are banking on body warmth because we will have more people in the shanty,” McCarthy said. “The people who slept in there last year said it wasn’t that bad if they wore layers, and they used two sleeping bags. One of them said he woke up sweating one night.”
Several Orono businesses, including Pat’s Pizza, Margaritas and The Store have already contributed to the fundraiser. Throughout the next few weeks, Habitat members are traveling around the community to ask additional businesses for contributions.
“I think it’s bold. [It’s] not something that I’d particularly want to do, so I commend them for it,” said Margarita’s Kitchen Manager Kirk Levesque.
“I definitely think it’s going to raise awareness. As long as they consistently do it every year,” said The Store owner Roberta Bradson.
“I think the homeless situation has increased quite a bit in our area over the past three or four years,” Bradson said. “I guess in light of all of the things that are happening all over the world as far as tragedy — Haiti and out west — I think we are all in the giving mood.”
