On Wednesday, March 17, the Student Veterans Organization and Phi Beta Sigma joined together to host an event to create awareness about homelessness.

The events were set up by Rueben Otero, computer science senior, and Aaron Neely, psychology junior.

Both organizations were hoping to bring awareness to the students about how homelessness impacts the community, but, this specific week, they were also pointing out homeless veterans.

In the past, Phi Beta Sigma has participated in other camp-outs on campus, but Otero said there were differences between the two.

“Last year, we participated in Barricade with Boxes, which is different from this year’s camp-out,” Otero said. “We had found out that the United Way was going to be sponsoring an event similar to the one Phi Beta Sigma hosts every year nationally, so we just teamed up to raise awareness about homelessness.”

“Veterans make up 25 percent of the homeless population,” Otero said. “Since we have veterans here, we are affected locally.”

Wednesday’s events were part of the SVO Victory Week.

“Victory Week and the camp-out were held to do quite a few different things,” Neely said. “Most importantly, we wanted veterans to meet each other and realize they aren’t alone.”

Many people shared their stories about meeting other veterans.

“We are trying to raise awareness about what veterans go through when returning home — some are the homeless we see,” Neely said, “but we are also trying to get the community to realize they may not understand what the veterans are going through when returning home, but they need to try to be understanding.”

The SVO is going to try to make Victory Week a re-occurring spring event to help veterans feel a sense of accomplishment and recognition in the community.

“I feel that Veterans Day is a classy and respectful event for the veterans that came before me,” Neely said. “I want Victory Week to be about my age group and our sense of victory in society.”

The camp-out group was about 35 people, including Phi Sigma Sigma members.

“My sisters and I want to do what we can to help support other organizations on campus,” Katie Warren, Spanish senior, said. “Plus, we want to learn about the homeless issues and the veterans on our campus.”

The camp-out participants did hear about veterans and the struggles they face trying to come home.

Neely spoke with the group about the red tape and hard times veterans have trying to become an active member of society again and how it can sometimes lead to homelessness. “We camped out because, when the students were on campus or arriving the next morning, we wanted them to see the tents in the field and start to ask questions,” Neely said.