Each year, students eat, sleep and fundraise in shacks to support the creation of local affordable housing in the annual NC State Shack-A-Thon. This year, the event started on Sept. 22 and will end Sept. 28, with more than 1,500 students and 45 student organizations participating.
The shacks, built by varying student organizations, can be found in the Brickyard and are made of materials such as plywood, tarps and scrap wood. Students live in these shacks throughout the week to fundraise for Habitat for Humanity.
“The most obvious forefront goal is to raise $65,000 because that’s enough to basically get an entire house built in this area for somebody who needs affordable housing,” said director of Shack-A-Thon Josh Guter.
According to Guter, another big goal is to spread knowledge about the issues of homelessness and affordable housing in Raleigh. This is the motivation behind having participating students sleep and spend a majority of the week in the shacks they built.
“Students sleeping in the wooden shacks at night very quickly learn that it’s not comfortable to sleep on a hard floor in the cold,” Guter said.
The Caldwell Fellows, a participating organization, themed their shack based on Shack-A-Thon’s goal of supporting Habitat for Humanity. Mason Stevens, a second-year studying computer science and math and a member of the Caldwell Fellows, said one side of their shack is focused on the concept of what home means for students, and the other side is focused on advocacy for affordable housing.
“We’re supporting affordable housing,” Stevens said. “That’s what Habitat’s all about.”
Not only is Shack-A-Thon important because of the money it raises and the message it promotes, but Guter said it’s also important for the community at NC State. It is big events like Shack-A-Thon that bring large numbers of students together. Additionally, Guter said the event is a good way for student organizations to interact with one another, whether they partner up and build a shack together or just talk on the Brickyard.
“It’s just a really good way to build community, spread awareness about the lack of affordable housing and raise money for Habitat for Humanity all at the same time,” Guter said.
Molly Burke, president of Habitat for Humanity at NC State, said in this area, one in four families are lacking affordable housing. Her chapter works with the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Wake County, where their main goal is to help alleviate this affordable housing crisis. Shack-A-Thon, which is the NC State chapter’s biggest fundraiser of the year, is a major contributor to this goal.
“The money that we raise will help participants in the area purchase materials to build safe and affordable Habitat homes,” Burke said.
In addition to being their largest annual fundraiser, Burke said Shack-A-Thon is unique, which can make it hard to describe to people, but also sets NC State apart from other chapters.
“I think it stands out in people’s minds as something that’s really special and worth taking time to make happen,” Burke said.
Both Burke and Guter discussed the time and effort put into planning Shack-A-Thon. Guter said he and his co-directors have been working out the logistics and marketing of the event since the summer. Guter and the other coordinators also have to work closely with the school to ensure the safety of the participants and the maintenance of the Brickyard where the shacks are located.
According to Guter, this year’s event also puts emphasis on including smaller student organizations on campus. In addition to reaching out to past participants and those potentially interested, Guter said when marketing the event, they didn’t leave smaller student groups out of the loop.
“We really did try this year to create opportunities for groups that were too small to participate in the past to sort of partner together and work with another shack in order to have an opportunity to get involved with this really awesome event,” Guter said.
With the goal of spreading awareness of the affordable housing crisis and bringing students together, Burke invites students interested in helping out with Shack-A-Thon in the future to become a part of the planning committee.
“I think next year we’re looking to grow into committees, so maybe students can work towards getting our food sponsors, or students can help specifically with planning construction. So, we’re looking to recruit people who want to just help with planning the event,” Burke said.
According to Burke, student organizations that want to get involved with the Habitat for Humanity chapter can build shacks for the event, but students outside of organizations who want to get involved can also help build shacks and additionally help sell T-shirts to fundraise.
“The most important thing I want people to understand is finding affordable housing is a challenge that more people face than you would think,” Burke said. “Even if you don’t know somebody directly who is having trouble finding affordable housing, there are plenty of people around us who are, and it’s really important to give hard-working people a chance to find affordable housing.”
Kaitlyn Johnson, a first year studying Human Biology, paints a clown on Nate Shorter's a face, a first year studying political science for their fundraiser at the annual Shack-A-Thon event on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. The two are participating with Pi Beta Phi and Pi Kappa Phi as they raise awareness for Habitat for Humanity. "This event reflects the values of our organization and raises awareness for housing insecurity," Shorter said.
