Interact to raise awareness for the less fortunate by being homeless for a night
To raise awareness and gather donations for the homeless, Interact will host it’s second annual “Homeless for a Night” event next Friday night from 10 pm to 6 am on Saturday morning.
Students can sign up for the event by paying a $2 reservation fee to Dr. Abbi Strunc, Mr. John Strunc, or any Interact member in the East Cafeteria. When participants show up to the event, they should bring $1o worth of canned goods. The donations will go to Table of Grace, a local program who works with Duncanville Outreach to provide warm meals as well as groceries for the homeless.
“This event is really cool because it’s going to impact and benefit people that actually live in our community,” Dr. Strunc said.
Interact has hosted the event once before. It is part of their effort to better their community.
“Interact’s motto is service above self,” Dr. Strunc said.
The event began last year when Interact member Daisy Ramirez, who has now graduated, learned about the event in another community and saw the seriousness of homelessness in the Dallas area.
“She realized homelessness was an issue in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that no one really talked about,” Dr. Strunc said. “She wanted to do something to raise awareness of the fact that there are homeless people out there, but also do provide something tangible as a way to help.”
Dr. Strunc said the event last year was both fun and eye opening.
“It was great,” Dr. Strunc said. “The only problem we had, was we were told that the tennis court lights would be on, but they weren’t; that was sort of helped make the event more real. All of the participants really had a good time, but they were more aware and thankful that they could go home and go to bed, instead of sleeping on the concrete again.”
Dr. Strunc hopes that greater awareness and gratitude are the two things students take away when they go home.
“People are aware that others are homeless, but there’s not much said or done about it in society,” Dr. Strunc said. “It’s not just something you see in downtown Dallas with people living under bridges, and it’s not just something that affects people who make bad choices. Homelessness affects a variety of different people all over the country. There is a possibility that there are people are homeless in Duncanville High School, and people don’t even know. We need to raise awareness for those people. We can do something to help.”
