Dear Editor,

According to 2014 reports by Homeless Alliance of WNY, 1,115 people were homeless in the Erie-Niagara Region on any given night. In the same year, it was recorded that 26.6 percent of these individuals were children under the age of 18.

Unbeknownst to many of us, people around us – even fellow students – struggle with not having a safe place to sleep at night. People of our community need and deserve a safe place to sleep, especially children.

I am writing to you in regards to SUNY Buffalo State’s NYPIRG Chapter’s annual Sleep Out Event.

The New York Public Interest Research Group’s (NYPIRG) aim is to create an atmosphere of discussion, education, awareness, and activism about issues that affect our Buffalo community. We at NYPIRG, focus on five core goals: voter registration, higher education affordability, environmental protection, consumer protection, and hunger & homelessness outreach.

We invite everyone to join us at our Hunger and Homelessness Sleep Out event.

This year, NYPIRG will be joined by the Student Political Society, PRIDE Alliance, Alternative Spring Break, NAACP, ROTC, as well as other community organizations.

The sleep out will be held on campus, outside, rain or shine under the Cleveland Hall overhang on Tuesday, April 19. The event will start around 7 P.M., beginning with a press conference in which each organization is asked to say a few words about their involvement.

The sleep out itself aims to simulate the issues that surround the most vulnerable of our community, mainly a safe place to sleep. Students are asked to spend the night outside, without shelter, to better understand what it means to not have a safe place to sleep at night.

Come join us, from 7 pm to 1 am, Tuesday, April 19 for this important event to better understand the lives of the people who are the most vulnerable in our Buffalo community. Only through the support of our student body, and our Buffalo community, can we create change.

Gather your friends and fellow students to learn about what we can do, and how we can be involved in helping one another.

“None of us are free, if one of us is chained. None of us are free.” – Ray Charles

In Solidarity,

Emily Mrozek

Hunger and Homelessness Outreach Project Leader

NYPIRG Chapter at SUNY Buffalo State

[email protected]/ 716-479-4038