Blog Post 9- Shack-a-thon

OU Fraternities and Sororities Shack up for a Cause

The South Oval may have looked like a refugee camp on Wednesday, Nov. 11, but that was not due to an outbreak of war between the peoples of Moore and Oklahoma City.
On the contrary, these "refugees" were there by choice: the OU Sorority and Fraternity members were "shacking up," building their own shabby shelters, to raise money and awareness for Habitat for Humanity.
There are two reasons for Shack-a-thon: fundraising and advocacy for the homeless in our area, said President of OU's chapter of Habitat for Humanity Jordan Eppler.
Students began at 10 in the morning building their shacks out of cardboard, wrapping paper, nails, duct tape and anything else that was allowed.
"What we did is we went and found wood... and we've been placing it kind of like a jigsaw puzzle for the past week...," said communications senior James Gable.
As for actually raising the money, participants opted to do everything from smiling for money to offering kisses for sale to downright begging.
"We're using sad faces that you can make happy, dancing and music to attract people," said health and exercise science senior Brittany Washington.
Though they may get caught up in the competitiveness of the event, the students don't forget why they are there.
"Its good to raise awareness for the homeless because it's kind of an unknown fact that even in our county here i think like 10 or 15 percent live under the poverty rate," Gable said.