The ISU Catholic Student Community is encouraging students to get involved with an issue that is often overlooked, even though it affects people on a local, statewide, nationwide and worldwide level: homelessness.

“We are trying to raise awareness of homelessness and how homeless people live,” said Shelly Bruecken, freshman in biology and executive director of the event. “This event is something that Catholic Student Community has done every year. It is very similar to Reggie’s Sleepout, which is held in Des Moines, but basically a smaller version of it.”

The event is open to the public, and it has generally attracted around 50 people in past years.

“Last year we had a smaller turnout because of the rain, but most of the time we have a pretty good amount of people come,” Bruecken said. “Anybody who really wants to come is free to. We usually get a lot of interest once people see a bunch of people sleeping outside with blankets and not much else.”

This year there has been an additional twist to the event with a cardboard house competition.

“Teams of up to four to six people can sign up to compete,” Bruecken said. “They can either pay $10 or bring 10 items of nonperishable food.”

The teams’ task will be to build a cardboard house structured out of nothing more than cardboard and duct tape.

“The structures cannot be made of more than 20 percent duct tape,” Bruecken said. “There will be three professors who will judge the houses and determine the winner. They will be judging based on three criteria, which will be structure, creativity and practicality. The criteria will be based on a scale of 1 to 10.”

The winner of the competition will receive a trophy. The teams are encouraged, but are not required to spend the night in their cardboard houses.

“Duct tape and cardboard will be available for teams to use,” Bruecken said. “But these will be given out on a first come, first served basis. Just like in real life, once the materials are gone, teams will have to rely on what they have.”

In order to spread awareness of the event, the ISU Catholic Student Community will be passing out flyers and putting advertisements up on sandwich boards throughout the day.

From 7 to 8 p.m., a Speakers Panel will be held in room 3512 of the Memorial Union, focusing on homeless issues. The speakers will be Angie Schreck, assistant director of ACCESS, an Ames-based domestic violence shelter; Toni Nicol, volunteer and events coordinator at Iowa Homeless Youth Centers; David Goodner, community member of the Des Moines Catholic Worker House; Troy Jansen, assistant director of the Emergency Residence Project, Ames; and Ken Bresnan, parish outreach liaison of Catholic Charities of Des Moines.

“They will addressing common questions about homelessness,” Bruecken said. “We’re looking to help get rid of the stereotypes surrounding homelessness and to help people realize that anyone can become homeless. It affects everyone.”

All proceeds from the event will be going toward Students Helping Our Peers, Iowa State’s student-run food pantry.