Wichita State students hope to raise awareness at homeless event

A Night Under the Stars, an event hosted by students at Wichita State University, is aimed at bringing awareness to Wichita’s homeless population and understanding the difficulties of being homeless.

The Student Organization of Social Work is hosting the event, which is open to the public and begins Monday. Participants will sleep outside in the parking lot of First United Methodist Church, 330 N. Broadway.

Kaitlin Heaton, a senior at WSU studying social work and president of the student group, said this is the first year for the event.

Food trucks will be at the event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will offer lunch for $1 to anyone who brings a donation, according to a Facebook post about the event.

Heaton said the intent is to gather donations, expand understanding of the homeless and bring attention to the Point-in-Time Homeless Count on Jan. 28. During Point-in-Time, local agencies count the number of homeless people in the Wichita area and services are offered to the homeless community, like medical care and haircuts.

Heaton said the group plans to sleep outside as a way to understand what it feels like to be homeless.

“We just want to make sure the homeless population knows we see them, and we want to do more,” Heaton said.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Wichita State students hope to raise awareness at homeless event."