Feb. 14 through 18 will be SGA’s 4th annual Shanty Shack Donation Drive. This collection of donations serves to help San Antonio’s children in need by providing them with non-perishable canned goods, new or gently used clothing, and children’s books. The Shanty Shack will be located between the MS building and Sombrilla on Monday, Feb. 14, beginning at 7 a.m.

The actual Shack, built of wood, tarp and cardboard boxes, is designed to resemble the homes of these families.

“We decided to use this (design) to give a visual example of how people live. We want students to see that people are living like this while we are going to school and living in comfortable apartments,” Senior Senator Farrah Walji said.

Along the Shack’s walls will be lined with information and statistics about those less fortunate who are coping with homelessness and hunger in San Antonio. The purpouse is to show the importance of the contributors.

“We all have so many opportunities. Just going to college is an opportunity. These are people who don’t have very many things and coming from such a large university, it would be kind of nice to be able to give back to the community,” said SGA Public Relations Chair Diane Cuervo.

The donation drive is coordinated by SGA members Roger Cardenas, Diane Cuervo, Farrah Walji, the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and VOICES.

Public service announcements for Shanty Shack will air on campus television monitors the week before the donation drive . Every year donation to the project have increased.

“In the last few years this hasn’t received very much publicity but this year we’d like to get the whole community involved because we’d like to get as much as we can for these kids. We want everyone to know about the need in our community for so many of the items we plan to collect,” Cuervo said.

All food donations will be given the San Antonio Food Bank. The children’s books will be given to Canaghan, Thorton and Boone elementary schools, and clothing will go to the San Antonio Children’s Shelter. Donations will be distributed the following week.

The Shanty Shack has an event tab on SGA’s Facebook page for anyone interested in learning more about donating.