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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10/14/05
Greenville College Students Camp Out on Scott Field to Raise Awareness of Homelessness
Shak-a-thon, Sponsored by Habitat for Humanity, an Awareness Campaign and Fundraiser
GREENVILLE
, ILL. – After an informational meeting, 109 students participating in
Shak-a-thon received their cardboard boxes and headed out to Scott
Field to set up camp. These students remained outdoors for the next two
nights, fasting all meals, and giving up the luxuries their fellow
students enjoy. Sponsored by the Greenville College chapter of Habitat
for Humanity, this event happens once a year in the fall to raise
campus awareness about the everyday hardships faced by homeless people
worldwide. This year student leaders added a fundraising component to
the activity soliciting college and community members to support
Habitat for Humanity.
The mission of Shak-a-thon
is to raise an emotional, social and physical awareness of homelessness
and substandard housing and funds in partnership with Habitat for
Humanity for its eradication, giving Greenville College students,
faculty, and staff an opportunity to experience it first-hand.
Student c-coordinator Danny McMaken defines the intentions of the
event. "Shak-a-thon is an opportunity to ‘rough it' outside for a
couple of days underneath some cardboard,” said McMaken. “It is obvious
that we cannot recreate the actual desperate conditions of homeless
life and we are not claiming to. When you are giving up your claim to
adequate housing, steady meals and modern luxuries you are declaring
your support for over one billion people around the globe who are
trapped in inadequate housing, starvation and marginalization.”
Greenville
College is a four-year accredited Christian liberal arts school with
more than 1300 traditional undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree
completion students. Founded in 1892 and affiliated with the Free
Methodist Church, the college is located in Greenville, Illinois, 45
miles east of St. Louis.
CONTACT:
Christy Grimes (
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)
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Greenville College
(618) 664-6515
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