TO THE EDITOR:
As I walk around the Pit this week and see dedicated classmates advertising Relay for Life, I flash back to the enthusiastic masses that beg us all to sign up for Dance Marathon.
I’m also reminded that there are hundreds of great causes on campus that don’t receive as much attention. One such event is the annual Box-Out in the Pit, which will take place on Friday.
For those unfamiliar with the event, the Box-Out is a one-night sleepover in the Pit to raise funds for and awareness of homelessness in our community. Participating students live in a box for a night as a symbolic gesture of solidarity with those who lack housing.
The event is hosted by two student-run nonprofit organizations, Homeless Outreach Poverty Eradication (HOPE) and Community Empowerment Fund (CEF), both of which empower homeless and unemployed individuals to get out of poverty and improve their lives.
If there is one thing that has always impressed me during my four years at UNC, it is my fellow students’ commitment to causes they believe in.
I encourage everyone to consider living in a box for one night. If we want to create change that will improve the world, let’s start with our world here in Chapel Hill.
All money raised during this year’s Box-Out will go directly to funding CEF’s matched savings and financial literacy programs — programs that have helped 42 individuals obtain employment, 43 individuals find housing and 45 individuals save a total of $38,300, just in the past two years.
For some of us who participate, living in a box on Friday the 13th might be a bad omen. For many in our community, every night is Friday the 13th. However, with a simple gesture, we can drastically improve the lives of community members who don’t enjoy even the plastic-coated mattresses we lived on in Hinton James.
As students, we’ve accomplished great tasks together in the name of kids, friends with cancer, schoolchildren in Uganda and everything in between.
