Advent Blog

You know it’s Spring on cam­pus when the birds are back, the flow­ers were bloom­ing, and the large card­board shacks are being built on the cam­pus green.  Yes, you read cor­rectly, I am talk­ing huge card­board shacks.  No, its not for peo­ple who could not pay their stu­dent hous­ing bills, although that would not have sur­prised me.

This event is called Shack-A-Thon.  It is done every year on col­lege cam­puses to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.  Student orga­ni­za­tions usu­ally build dif­fer­ent “shacks” to rep­re­sent them­selves.  They can paint, dec­o­rate, shape, tape, etc.  The liv­ing sit­u­a­tions inside the shacks are pretty inno­v­a­tive as well.  Students would have couches and chairs, cots, bedrolls, and of course sleep­ing bags.  Students are per­mit­ted to stay in the shacks for at least three days.

This is a per­fect exam­ple of mar­ket­ing done right.  This highly antic­i­pated event raises thou­sands of dol­lars each year for Habitat for Humanity.  It also raises aware­ness about home­less­ness, even if the liv­ing sit­u­a­tions may be a lit­tle unre­al­is­tic.  Besides using a renew­able mate­r­ial, these Shackathon’s are incred­i­bly inex­pen­sive to run.  Hopefully, this inspires an idea for your next event.

Tags: habitat for humanity, shak-a-thon