PHOTO | Frankie Sanchez
Students from across the WTAMU campus came together last Wednesday and Thursday (April 14-15) in their second attempt this month to raise awareness about living conditions in third-world areas.
During “Shack-A-Thon,” students from several different majors and backgrounds signed up to build a “shack” and then spent the night in it on the lawn between Old Main and Cousins Hall.
The shacks were built out of wooden pallets, cardboard, duck tape, plastic tarp and anything else the students could find.
“Shack-A-Thon” was created in 2007 by Buffs for Christ in an effort to fund an AIDS clinic in Kenya. The event was so successful in raising cause awareness and monetary donations that other campus organizations made “Shack-A-Thon” an annual base event for different causes. In 2008, students with Baptist Student Ministries championed the “Invisible Children” in Uganda, and now for the second year in a row, the WT Alliance has hosted “Give-A-Goat” in Sudan as the cause.
The notion for “Shack-A-Thon/Give-A-Goat” was conceived after WT students were made aware of living conditions for the average family in Sudan by Dave Eggers, author of What is the What (2006) and 2008 convocation speaker. WT Alliance partnered with the Christian Relief Fund, a humanitarian group based out of Amarillo, and learned that by donating a goat to a Sudanese family, they would enable that family to earn an income and provide food for themselves.
“Each goat cost $75, but that also includes the cost of transportation to the family, minimal dairy business equipment and medical care for the goat,” Kent Mereness, director of Buffs for Christ said.
WT Alliance has branched out this year to other areas of the community in hopes to raise even more money. Local news stations and papers were contacted and asked to run announcements for the event and information on how to donate. Students also set up a booth a week prior to the actual event in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center asking for donations and allowing students to sign-up for a shack.
PHOTO | Frankie Sanchez
“Our students made announcements at their home churches. They asked all of their friends and family for their support,” Mereness said.
According to Becky Hallmark with Buffs for Christ, enough money had been raised by Monday morning to purchase about 130 goats, but more money is still coming in, so they don’t have a final count yet.
In fact, anyone still wishing to donate money can do so by contacting Kent Mereness at 806-655-2174 or by e-mail at kentmereness@gmail.com.
Students began gathering materials and building their shacks Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. WT Alliance provided cardboard and pallets, leaving students to gather any other materials they wanted.
Several students were concerned about the weather causing problems as the average temperature was 50° F with light drizzle. Most shacks had some kind of plastic tarp for rain protection, but others had different ideas.
“We’re going to Saran Wrap the whole thing,” Carlos Mireles, WT student said. “We have like 20 boxes here, so hopefully that’s enough.”
Over the course of the day, 42 shacks were built. The shacks ranged from boxes duck taped together to elaborate two or three-story constructions with extra pallets and tarps for insulation.
Most shacks were emblazoned with organizational names, insignias or flags declaring support for the cause.
“Shack-A-Thon is a good way to raise awareness of the impoverished nations of Africa, which we forget about a lot,” Dominick Miller, WT student said. “Seeing something like this, a shanty-ville, almost brings it home a lot more than just some flyers.”