By Ruby Rizvi, News Editor

For the past five years, Armstrong has hosted the Annual 48-hours Homeless event here on campus. The event, organized by the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, was held this past weekend, from March 6-8, and was designed to raise awareness of the increasing homeless population in Savannah.

The event began with members of the fraternity setting up tents outside the student union to stay in for the weekend. The brothers gave up their homes to live in donated tents, wear donated clothes, and only eat food that had been donated to them. The event coincided with food and clothing drives around Armstrong’s campus.

The main theme of this event was to, “go a step beyond the typical food and clothing drive,” senior psychology major Daniel Crafton said.

This will be Crafton’s fifth year participating in 48-hours Homeless as a Pi Kappa. Crafton went on to explain that this event brings a well-known problem a little closer to home. “It opens students’ eyes when they pass us and see us camping out here, living off of nothing but donations, much like many other homeless people in Savannah do,” he said. He hopes that by doing this with his fraternity that it’ll go to show that they’re more than just a group of young men, and that they care about their city and its people.

All donations received go to the Old Savannah City Mission located downtown Savannah.

The mission provides assistance to people from all walks of life. The OSCM provides meals for the hungry, a place to stay for those without shelter, and even offers rehabilitation services. Donations from this event are used by the OSCM directly for the homeless, unlike other organizations which take donations and sell them for a lowered cost.

“I think the entire event goes out to a good cause,” Dillon Gover, a freshman biology major and fellow Pi Kappa, said. “It’s a blast to be out here, it’s been really awesome.”

Chandler Stansell, a second year Pi Kappa and biology major, also agrees with the cause that the event supports. “It puts blankets on their backs, food in their mouths, and clothes on their bodies. How could you not support that?” This was Stansell’s second year participating in the event, and he hopes to continue being a part of the movement.

By bringing homelessness to the campus, the fraternity was able to make more of an impact by making a direct connection with students. “We had upwards of 20 people participate this year,” Crafton said. “I hope we’re able to bring as much awareness to the cause as it deserves. I feel the event had a positive impact on not only myself but my fellow brothers. It made me realize the struggle that the homeless have to endure each day to survive.”