Tiger Weekly - Serving Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Students fuel the dreams of the homeless through 'Sleep in a Box'

By Clifton Lee

According to a 2007 study conducted by the National Law Center on Homelessness, approximately 3.5 million American citizens experience homelessness every year. Of those, 1.35 million of these people are estimated to be children. Upon first thought, these numbers may be startling to the average American, but after examining communities across the country, it almost seems as if homelessness has become another part of American society to which the nation has simply become accustomed.

While many people commonly ignore or avoid millions of the homeless citizens who roam the streets, some people choose to be proactive. These people include Dustin Lail, who was one of the founders of the Sleep in a Box event at LSU. The event consists of LSU students and Baton Rouge natives sleeping in cardboard boxes for one night in order to experience a moment in the life of a homeless person.

In addition to displaying homelessness through a first person perspective, the program's main goal is to raise funds for homeless adolescents. This is accomplished by charging each participant of the event $10 to be a part of the event.

After funds are collected from students, the money is then transferred to the Lataro Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising homelessness awareness and helping homeless teens succeed in school. The foundation's main goal is to collect at least $100,000, distributing it to 13 homeless awareness departments across the state of Louisiana. Once distributed, the funds help homeless students by providing them with school supplies, fees and equipment for sports or extracurricular activities and any other materials they need to fit in with the student population and ultimately succeed.

During his time as a student at Lafayette High School in Lafayette, La., Dustin and a few of his classmates initially created the program for recreational reasons instead of philanthropy.

"In our junior year we were looking for something to do in our senior year to have everyone remember us by," said Lail. "It just started out as an event we were going to do to have fun. But then, over the summer, we realized we could take the money and actually do something with it."

The event's prominence has grown considerably since its inception in 2007.

When asked about his fondest experiences with the event, Lail said, "My most memorable moment would probably be whenever we got invited to a national convention for homeless awareness, and we got to do a presentation in front of 80 people."

Lail said his most humbling experience was meeting two scholarship-worthy homeless students who were deeply touched by the event's mission.

"We told them what we were all about and they actually broke into tears because they were so honored and privileged that what we were doing was to help them," stated Lail. "At that moment, it was a reality shock that what I was doing was helping someone."

But this morsel of success is not sufficient for Dustin. He wants to the event to continue growing and eventually generate millions of dollars for at-risk homeless teens.

"Hopefully Sleep in Box can spark something in someone else and hopefully over the years that we build up this event, it will become something major that raises millions of dollars a year to help homeless youth in their situation," Lail said.

If the drive and dedication of Lail and his colleagues are any indication of the event's future, Sleep in a Box will definitely change the lives of an increasing amount of disadvantaged teens for many years to come. Sleep in a Box will be held at LSU on the night of April 18 after being reschedule from its original March 28th date due to inclement weather conditions.

Originally Published: April 15, 2009

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