Even in areas such as those surrounding the high school, homeless people can still be found. To raise awareness, Family Promise of Collin County, with help of the school’s Key Club, will hold its fourth annual Cardboard Box City on the high school football field Saturday, April 5.

“The first reason we hold the event is to create awareness in our community that homelessness exists and to educate them that not all homeless people are the people that we see in the streets and under the bridges, but that it impacts families in our very community,” Family Promise coordinator Jana Carmichael said. “The second part is that it is our largest fundraiser for Family Promise in Collin County, and because we are non-profit and all of our money comes in through donations and sponsors and churches and the community, and it’s a big part of our revenue.”

To give participants a glimpse of what it would be like to be homeless, participants sleep in cardboard boxes for a night.

“One of the main things is that we sleep out, overnight, in cardboard boxes, and every year since our first year we have been fortunate enough to use the Lovejoy High School football field,” Carmichael said. “So the participants sleep out in boxes out in the weather, whatever the elements are – if its raining, it is cold, windy, or sleeting outside.”

With the help of the school’s Key Club, students are given the opportunity to volunteer and participate in Cardboard Box City.

“It is something [The Key Club] has done in the past and so it is up to the president each year if they want to do it again,” Key Club adviser Amanda Beller said. “And it’s not directly sponsored through Key Club but it is a good kind of community service project that [students] can do to experience what it would be like to be homeless for one night.”

To further impact the participants, coordinators for Cardboard Box City invite special guests, or families, to talk about their experiences living without a home.

“One thing we did for the first time last year, was to invite families who have graduated from the Family Promise – families who were at one point homeless but now are not because of our program,” Carmichael said. “Last year one of the families came and spent the night with us and told us their story, and that was brand new and we plan on doing that again this year.”

Volunteers are always welcomed at Cardboard Box City, and for those interested, Familypromiseofcollincounty.org is the place to go for that, as well as for finding out more about Family Promise’s efforts.

“We always need volunteers,” Carmichael said. “We need volunteers for everything from donating food, to helping with the event, and one thing we are really lacking in is adult chaperones to spend the night and we always need volunteers.”

This year the participant fee is $35 with all profits going to help the homeless. For students that participate, it’s a chance to get a tiny taste of being homeless by way of a social, fun event.

“We all camp out on the football field and have to build small cities out of cardboard boxes and it is supposed to stimulate being homeless and survive in the cold without a home,” senior Jessica Weyand said. “It’s really fun to be able to hang out with your friends for a whole night and it is for a good cause as well.”

After hearing the a family speak on their experiences living without a home last year, Weyand learned to rethink her schema of what and who a homeless person may be and how to help out in the community.

“It opened my eyes to see that anyone can be homeless and you can’t really judge on how someone looks whether or not they’re homeless,” Weyand said. “You need to be supportive of all your homeless services around your area and just help out everyone.”