Students will be sleeping on central campus tonight in cardboard boxes to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless.

The Catholic Student Community and St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center, 2210 Lincoln Way, are sponsoring the Sleepout for the Homeless.

All ISU and Ames community members are invited to participate. The sleepout is being held south of the Campanile from noon today until noon Thursday.

Carrie Chavez, sleepout organizer and peer minister at St. Thomas Aquinas, said she hopes sleeping overnight on campus will help students realize that some people actually have to sleep out on the streets.

“It’s so people can be aware that homelessness is an issue and a problem that a lot of people in America have to deal with,” she said. “A big part of it is just that people will see the cardboard boxes, so people will know.”

The students participating will have only cardboard boxes to sleep in, she said. During the sleepout, there will be speeches about the problem of homelessness.

“We’re going to have some time for reflection when we talk about the homeless in America and Iowa,” Chavez said.

Chavez said the sleepout will give people a chance to learn about ways to get involved at a local level.

“We’ll be talking with people about ways we can do stuff here in Ames because there’s a lot of organizations, and I don’t think people are aware of them,” she said, adding that Habitat for Humanity and the Emergency Residence Project are two such groups.

Participants will also pass out statistics about homelessness in America and Iowa.

“[There will be] educational material to encourage people to say, ‘Hmm, maybe I should do something’ or ‘It is a problem,'” she said.

Nate Rauh, senior in computer science, said he plans to attend the event. He said the purpose of the sleepout is to encourage people to think about issues they otherwise might ignore.

“We’re trying to get students to reflect on how our society addresses the problem of homelessness,” he said. “Our economy is going through a great period, but we still have people who are unemployed.”

Rauh said participants will discuss legislation for raising the national minimum wage, and postcards will be available for anyone to send to a congressperson or senator.

“Working at minimum wage, you’d still be at the poverty level with a full-time job,” he said.

Chavez said those at the sleepout will say a prayer for the homeless today at about 5 p.m. and again at 11:30 p.m.

Participants may spend the night or they can just hang out in the boxes for the day, she said.

“Hopefully, people will stop by and just take a minute to look,” she said.