Monday marks the beginning of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. While this issue may seem distant for most of the Penn State community, many students still face severe financial difficulties during their time here. That’s why the student organization Project Cahir has decided to host the weeklong event on campus to shed light on the issue.

Project Cahir, also known as Penn State Students United Against Poverty, provides support and resources to students in financial need. It funds the Take Cahir Initiative, which helps students in need purchase food, toiletries, and textbooks.

To put on the weeklong event, Project Cahir partnered with other student organizations like Global Brigades, UNICEF, Lion’s Pantry, and OXFAM. On Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 17 and 18), there will be a Thanksgiving Basket Drive Collection. In 209 HUB, the organization will be accepting donations from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On November 19, Project Cahir will host a forum on hunger and homelessness from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center library in the HUB. This forum will give the audience an opportunity to hear from students, community members, and faculty about the issues of hunger and homelessness.

Project Cahir will also host Poverty Fight Night on Wednesday. This overnight event begins at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and ends at 8 a.m. on Thursday in the HUB Noontime Lounge.

“The idea to sleep overnight in the HUB came from the fact that this is something students in need actually do,” said Project Cahir spokeswoman Natasha Bailey. “We wanted to bring awareness to this problem students are having while also bringing awareness to other issues like not having food to eat or not being able to afford textbooks for class.”

National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week will end with a hunger banquet on Thursday, Nov. 20, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. The idea behind the banquet is to simulate the unequal distribution of food in the world.

For more information on the week’s events, email [email protected], or call (814) 863-4624.