I am writing this letter because of my disgust and repulsion with the inaccurate information in Alex Legeros’s article titled “Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.” As a student in the class that participates in the sleepout during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, I truly understand my class’s objective.

Legeros begins by accurately stating in his article that it was homelessness “awareness” week. The main goal of our class’s participation in the sleepout was to raise awareness of homelessness. At the end of Legeros’s article he states, “That is doing nothing to actually help the homeless.” Legeros has contradicted himself and has failed to understand the true goal of our sleepout before publishing this statement. We did not state that the goal of the sleepout was to directly help the homeless.

Legeros’s statement, “Yes, homelessness means sleeping outside during bitterly cold November winters,” is an example of Legeros’s lack of knowledge of the topic of homelessness. According to HUD, only about 44 percent of homeless people were unsheltered during a night in January 2005, and many of the 44 percent who were unsheltered probably found some type of protection from the cold. Legeros also goes on to say that we spent our nights sleeping in cardboard boxes, which is so far from the truth. It is apparent that Legeros failed to speak to the professor or the students of this class for legitimate information about the sleepout.

Legeros believes what our class did had no value, but by writing this article he provides evidence that we did raise awareness of homelessness. Alex Legeros wrote this article without any factual evidence, and his statements were based on invalid assumptions. For someone who claims to take the homeless plight seriously, Legeros is doing the opposite of helping the homeless by bashing a class of students trying to raise awareness on campus.

Cody Anderson ‘14