As the holiday seasons approach, people tend to volunteer and donate to charity more often.
The same is true of Cougar Village residents, who were invited to take part in making a difference in the lives of Houston’s homeless.
UH Residential Life and Housing sponsored Give Live Love, a weeklong program focusing on spreading awareness about Houstonians in need.
Students were asked to place unwanted clothing in donation boxes found in the elevator lobbies on floors two through six of Cougar Village.
To kickoff the event, an information session was held Monday on the fifth floor lounge of Cougar Village to educate students about homelessness in Houston and to show them how they can help.
Donations collected at Cougar Village will be sent off to the Salvation Army at the end of the week.
Cougar Village resident Shawn Wilson believes it is a great effort by the University and supports the cause.
“I think it’s great that they are doing this,” Wilson said, a freshman music major. “A lot of times, a university as big as UH can come off as insensitive. So, this lets people know that universities have a heart as well.”
Weston Langwell, undeclared freshman and also a Cougar Village resident, said that although the efforts are great, it is not enough.
“I do believe it is a good thing and I hope it obtains the turn out that it deserves,” Langwell said. “But how can we, in Cougar Village, change the statistics of the homeless in just a short amount of time?”
According to the 2010 Enumeration/Needs report and survey conducted by the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston, there are approximately 8,167 homeless individuals in Harris County. The report shows a steady decline in the number of homeless individuals in the past several years, but this year marks a six percent increase from 2009.
Alma Duldulao-Ybarra, interim CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, said she appreciates the efforts of Cougar Village and everyone involved.
“We’re seeing more children, more working families that have become homeless and they are under reported and invisible in the community because of the shame factor,” Duldulao-Ybarra said. “This is one way of supporting them.”