Night out in the cold

Students get first-hand understanding of homelessness

Kristin Harty Barkley

CUMBERLAND ­— Kate Heller didn’t expect to get cold Tuesday night, even though she slept outdoors in a refrigerator box.

“I have an Army blanket, a Snuggie, and an old comforter,” said Heller, an Allegany High School senior. “I’m cozy.”

Heller and about 40 classmates slept outside the school on the football field as part of a Homeless Sleep-out on Tuesday. Advanced placement human geography teacher Brian White and current world issues teacher Wesley Cooper coordinated the project, designed to give students a feel for what it’s like to be homeless.

“We always do it this Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving,” said White, who “slept” outside, as well, though neither he nor Cooper brought a box. “Thanksgiving is always a good time to take notice of homelessness in the area.”

An estimated 300 people are homeless in Allegany County at any given time, estimates show. Students learn about the local homeless situation when they study chapters on poverty and homelessness in cities, White said.

“We really bring out the fact that there are homeless in Allegany County, the hidden homeless,” White said. “We don’t see them, but there are those without homes. They may be living in cars, or they may be living with family members or friends. … I tell the students, it’s not like Baltimore, but just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

Overnight, students are required to write in a journal, recording their observations. Each student must also make a donation of food, money or clothing to an area homeless agency as part of the service-learning project.

Students set up their boxes around 8:30 p.m. and were to go home around 6 a.m. They were excused from school Wednesday, a half-day.

“We have the three boxes, and we just have rooms coming off each box,” said senior Jake Mullan, showing a complex maze of boxes where he and about a dozen friends planned to sleep. They drew a floor plan Friday to prepare.

“We have blankets and pillows,” said Mullan, who didn’t appear anxious about spending the night outdoors. Temperatures were in the 40s and 50s.

“It gets pretty hot in there when you have 12 people,” Mullan said. “We actually had to cut some holes for air.”

About an hour after students arrived, the football field looked like a campground of sorts, with dozens of excited students chattering and laughing, some eating carry-out sandwiches.

“Typically, at this stage right now, they’re thinking, ‘Oh, this is going to be fun. We get to sleep outside of the school,’ ” White said. “Typically as the evening goes on, there’s a feeling of, 2 o‘clock, ‘I like my bed. I don’t like it out here.’”

Students were allowed to have their cell phones, but other electronic devices were discouraged.

Heller brought a flashlight, nonetheless. And a book, “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”

“I didn’t want to be out here in the dark,” she said.

Contact Kristin Harty at kharty@times-news.com.