Aevidum has been working hard to create unity within the school, and one way they have been doing this is through creating events centered around Homeless Awareness Week. November 1 through 7 was dedicated to bringing awareness to those who are homeless and how people are able to help those in need.

  Jill Platts, who is the homeless liaison of the district, recognizes the importance of Homeless Awareness Week because it brings attention to a cause that is not always acknowledged.

  “There is a statewide organization that is broken into regions through [the] Pennsylvania Department of Education [to] make sure that school districts are providing for homeless families and working with them to try to make sure that students have consistency with their education while they’re homeless,” Platts said. “They picked this week as Homeless Awareness Week statewide. The region we’re in is EcYeh, [which stands for] Education Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness, [and] they were pivotal in making red shirt day across the state this week.”

  Throughout the week, students were encouraged to bring in self-care items to be donated to local homeless shelters. A total of 694 items were donated, including winter hats, soap, baby wipes, and socks.

  “I’m aware of the organizations that have supported our families. One is Southern Community Services in Shrewsbury. They help many of our families who are in need financially,” Platts said.  “We also have several shelters where many of our families have stayed, so [any items donated]  will go to [those] shelters as well. We have a small pantry [at the school] that we want to keep on hand for families that we can distribute immediately if there is a need.”

  Although donations were the main mission of Aevidum for Homeless Awareness Week, they also had a crazy sock day on Thursday that coincided with the red shirt day statewide. Junior Rachel Stockslager is a member of Aevidum and thought that crazy sock day, which had 158 participants, was a great way to get the message out about Aevidum.

  “Since Aevidum is kind of a new thing and it just so happened to be Homeless Awareness Week, crazy sock day was…[meant] to get everyone to be more aware of what Aevidum is doing,” Stockslager said. ”Crazy sock day was a simple thing that everyone [could] be involved in.”

  The red shirt day staff donations came to a total of $300.00, and $17.50 was donated by homerooms to support homeless families. Aevidum advisor Kate Miklos thinks that the success of Homeless Awareness Week has encouraged the club to have other events similar to this one to help improve the community.

  “I know that we’ve been talking about a spirit week sometime in the near future to promote what Aevidum is, why we’re here, [and] what we’re trying to accomplish,” Miklos said. “It is all about promoting a healthy school, and making sure that everyone feels cared for, acknowledged, and appreciated. I’m sure we’ll do more things similar to this to meet the mission of the club.”

  Although Homeless Awareness Week is over, donations can still be given to help support homeless families. There will be a food pantry in room 119 for any student interested in donating throughout the year.