Key club members talk with Debbie, one of the speakers.

Be Homeless Program

(November 2006) The idea of the "Be Homeless" project sprang from the realization by Key Club members that there are some individuals that do not have a place to go home to at the end of the day. They recognized the fact that there are people in the community sleeping in cars, the woods and abandoned buildings.

In order to to raise money and bring more awareness to the plight of the homeless, students in Key Club decided they’d sleep in boxes within the courtyard at the school. For one evening, they would "Be Homeless." In 2004, the program was awarded the Best Single Service Project of New York State District Key Clubs.


Key club members with Louise Wilkinson and the women, who came to speak to the group about the plight of the homeless.

Now in its third year, the students spent the early part of the evening talking with speakers, like Caren Heacock from the Mattituck Presbyterian Church, who works with Maureen's Haven and who helps provide direct services to the homeless. The students also visited with women who have experienced homelessness themselves.

After the presentation, the students decorated their boxes and had some pizza. Then they bravely took their blankets, sleeping bags, and pillows and went into the raw October night where it was already beginning to rain. Finally, they got down on their hands and knees and crawled into their tarp covered boxes to try to get some sleep.

“They made it until about 3:00 AM,” reported Louise Wilkinson, the group's advisor, who works with the homeless, “and then their boxes dissolved in the rain. So far they’ve raised $850 for Maureen's Haven, a group that provides shelter and food for the homeless, and I know they've got a much better understanding of what it's like to be homeless. They're terrific kids.”