Bryan Steussy abruptly woke up to a loud ringing noise. He groped around to find the source until he realized it wasn’t his alarm clock — it was the Campanile’s bells, ringing loudly 50 feet north of his cardboard home.

Steussy, senior in biochemistry, was one of the 12 members of the St. Thomas Aquinas Service Team who slept in boxes in front of the Campanile Wednesday night. They set up six washing machine boxes and duct-taped them together to form a miniature cardboard housing complex.

The group camped out in order to raise awareness of homelessness in the Ames area.

“There are over 4,000 homeless people in the Story County alone,” Steussy said. “Most Iowa State students are completely unaware of the problem in our area. You walk over to the UDCC dining center to eat, and you would never think there’s any shortage of food.”

They spent the night talking to passersby, addressing issues of poverty and hunger in Ames and throughout the country.

One of the aims of the night was to break a stereotype that homeless persons are uneducated bums. Steussy said some of the Story County homeless have attended college and even graduate school.

“When I volunteered at a local homeless shelter, I discussed classical art with the people there around the dinner table,” said Emily Fifield, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences-open option. “That’s not something most people would expect a homeless person to know.”

They talked with onlookers at an information booth that encouraged students to write letters to local congressmen, protesting a federal bill that would cut $1 billion for low-income housing.

Throughout the night, people gave them confused looks. Some of the more curious onlookers came up and asked why the campers were sleeping on the south Campanile lawn.

“Are you guys actually sleeping here?” said Dan Brown, sophomore in philosophy.

“Yeah, we’re sleeping here all night to see what it’s like to be homeless,” said Lois Oldham, senior in sociology. “You can join us if you want.”

He looked at her in apparent disbelief. “You guys are really sleeping here? Brown said. “This isn’t illegal or anything, is it?”

The event wasn’t illegal, but it was uncomfortable. While the group members tried to sleep, they were awakened every 15 minutes by the Campanile bells. Oldham said she was annoyed by the frequent ringing, but she said it made their experience more authentic.

“Getting interrupted in our sleep adds to the experience because it’s one less thing we have control over,” she said. “It’s a wake-up call to the situation many people face.”

She said the weather was better this year than in past campouts. It rained the last three years, causing the cardboard homes to collapse.

“It was plain miserable, but it was only for a night, and you can do anything for a night,” she said.

Steussy said most ISU students are oblivious to the problems of homelessness, since they have little interaction with homeless people.

“Homeless people aren’t that different from you and me,” Steussy said.