By Patrick Smith / Staff writer

Last week, the Residence Life Staff kicked off National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, six days of events devoted to giving students a better understanding of poverty.

As part of the week’s activates, movies were shown on campus by RAs that highlighted the hardships facing homeless in America, including the award-winning “Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith.

Residence Life took donations for local food banks and homeless shelters. Discussions were also held to get students talking about the problems of hunger and homelessness.

In Chambers Hall, Thursday, a small shelter was constructed out of cardboard boxes near a desk where students could sign up for a 24-hour fast, starting at 4 p.m. that day. The event was planned and hosted by resident assistants Ashley Cingel and Sara Yates.

“In the past, I had done fasts for church, and most residents I talked to had never done one — so I thought it would be interesting to do on campus,” Cingel said.

About 40 students signed up for the fast. Participants could drink liquids, but were not allowed to eat. Those participating were given green ribbons to wear.

“It’s important to realize how blessed we are to have homes and food and especially to remember how many people aren’t as blessed as we,” Cingel said.

The week was similar to Residence Life’s presentation of Alcohol Awareness Week earlier this semester.

“At the beginning of the year, the resident assistants picked which the topic they wanted to participate in, either the alcohol week or this one. After each RA had chosen a topic, they paired up into teams of two within those groups to plan events that would pertain to their topic,” said RA Sara Yates.

Resident director Jessica Fantini was in charge of week of events.

“As a Residence Life staff, we spoke at the beginning of the year to decide which two weeks we’d like to cover and I felt strongly about being a part of this one. Through the country and world people are going hungry every day, as well as being homeless, and that’s something that everyone should be more aware of,” Fantini said.

Fantini said she was optimistic that the week had a clear goal.

“I hope that programs of this nature will continue next year, even if there is not a whole week devoted to it, and that people on campus were made more aware of issues or gained insight from attending a program which they plan to inform others about.”