Students Stage Cardboard City

Pictured: Kylee Wilson, Kassi Stid and Evan Fowler building their cardboard shelter. Submitted photo.

From Urbana Daily Citizen

The Urbana FFA Chapter sponsored their annual Cardboard City at Urbana High School. Thirty-seven Urbana High School students slept in cardboard boxes on Friday, November 5. The event took place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The students created a temporary cardboard home inside the gates of the football stadium to experience what it would be like to be homeless. Students also researched statistics on homelessness and learned about local shelters that provide shelter.
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Each student paid $5 to attend the event as a way to raise money and awareness for the homeless; $185 and some food supplies were collected. All proceeds were donated to The Caring Kitchen. The event opens up students’ eyes to how cold and uncomfortable being homeless is and students take the time to consider how fortunate they are. Realizing that the homeless have to deal with it every night rather than just one night.

We would like to thank our advisor chaperones, Christy Wilhelm for making chicken noodle soup, Joe Jackson for donating pizza, and all the students who participated. It was a great experience and we look forward to doing it again in the future.