May 6 - May 7, 2006 Shanty Town 2006 Hosted by Habitat For Humanity
One the above
mentioned dates driven took a 2 day trip up to Adam's county
Wisconsin. We left around 6 am and drove the three hours up. The
event was called "Shanty Town", hosted by the local Habitat for
Humanity, the goal was to build a cardboard shelter and sleep in it
overnight so that you learned what it was like to have to sleep
outside. Thus raising awareness for homelessness. Everyone was
supposed to raise sponsors for the event and raise as much money as
possible. 100% of the money went towards building a home in Adam's,
Wisconsin for a local family.
Our group not only built a cardboard structure, we built a fortress. Our first dwelling was sort of an elonggated triangle or A-frame structure. We included a lookout tower with a cardboard ladder. Our next endeavor was a freestanding geometric dome. Made out of countless cardboard triangles simply box-taped together this dwelling help together through the wind and snow with no support. We then decided to combine the two. So we got everyone together and moved the freestanding dome close to the A-frame Sstructure and made a huge dwelling. The dome became the girls area and the guys got the A-frame. (NOTE: If you do sleep in an A-frame with a lookout towere, don't sleep directly under the tower, it lets in cold air)
We then made the word driven out of the remaining cardboard (we had to work fast before dean burned it all). We also made a cool looking driven sign for the other side.
We made a sliding door with the frame made out of tubes and cardboard over that. It had a clear vinyl window to look cool.
The day was fun, we built the shelter, played softbal, got sunburntl, and just hung out. The night, however, was just plain Cold!!! . All totaled our group raised over $1000 and we will be going back later in the year to help build the homes.
There was so much cool stuff to talk about, but i guess youll just have to come with next year!!!
