BOXING DAY
This weekend, on Saturday, Nov. 22, the parking lot of First Christian Church,
700 S. Sixth St., will be littered with two dozen refrigerator boxes. No, the
church isn’t going out of business. Nor did they get a really good bulk deal on communion
wine.
In recognition of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, the
Springfield group Homeless United for Change will erect a box city for one
night to raise awareness about homelessness.
HUC organizer Barb Olson heaps praise onto several groups and individuals, including city
community-relations director Sandy Robinson and Washington Street Mission, who have helped greatly expand services for
Springfield’s homeless community in the past year. However, HUC remains focused on getting a
full-time, full-service day center for the chronically homeless.
“The gaps are immense. These are the least deserving of the least deserving in
society’s eyes,” Olson says. Joining HUC will be about 10 members of the Michigan-based Kalamazoo Homeless
Action Network (KHAN) who will travel to Springfield this weekend. Box city
will go ahead regardless of weather conditions, says Olson: “The KHAN folks, who are street-hardened, predict that refrigerator boxes will
last six hours in the driving rain.”
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2008.
