Keene State Tekes Raise Awareness for Homelessness

Members of the Lambda-Sigma chapter at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire, hosted TKE in a Box last month to raise awareness and funds for homelessness ahead of the holiday season.

From October 18-22, members of the chapter camped in a cardboard structure standing six feet tall, eight feet long and eight feet wide on the lawn of the L.P. Young Student Center on campus. The structure was supported by two-by-four framing. All materials were donated by the local Home Depot.

Daniel Keady, Histor of the Lambda-Sigma chapter, said he really wanted to get people thinking about the homeless epidemic that is so prominent in the town of Keene.

Spray-painted on the box was a simple tagline: "I eat well. I sleep well. I'm raising money for someone who doesn't."

Keady said that while the box was up, there was always at least one Teke inside the box and one at the table in front to collect contributions in the form of canned food and cash donations.

TKE in a Box partnered with Community Kitchen and Hundred Nights Shelter, local charities in the Keene community. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was also a beneficiary of the event.

"We're sleeping here the entire week," Keady said of the event. "Homeless people don't get the option to control what weather or environment they're sleeping in … we can rough it out for one week."

Frater Joshua Poloski added, "It may not be the same, living on the student center lawn with our blankets and our pillows, but we're putting ourselves out in the elements. We want to prove a point that these people need help and we're here to help them. We're starting a conversation on campus."

Poloski explained the whole point of TKE in a Box was to make a visual display.

The chapter's efforts earned recognition from neighboring organizations on campus. Kaitlin Richotte, Delta Phi Epsilon's chapter president, said, "I absolutely loved this idea … What I loved more was that not only were they trying to raise awareness about homelessness, which is a serious problem, but they were also raising money for their philanthropy, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. It's such an innovative way that hasn't been done before, and I'm proud to be a part of a community that these brothers are in."

This story was adapted from The Equinox.

For more information, please contact:

Daniel Klopfenstein
Communications Specialist
317.872.6533
DKlopfenstein@tke.org