Film about VWC's on-campus homeless shelter showcases community partnership, aims to inspire other colleges to adopt similar programs
By Stephanie Smaglo | October 8, 2014
A new documentary about Virginia Wesleyan's annual on-campus winter homeless shelter premiered Monday night (Oct. 6), capturing the unique relationship between college students and the homeless and showcasing the positive outcomes of VWC’s long-standing community partnership with Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless (PVH). Nearly 70 guests filled Blocker Auditorium, including representatives from PVH, VWC shelter managers and many student, faculty and staff volunteers who have helped make the shelter possible for nearly a decade.
Winter Shelter, On Campus: College Students Encounter Homelessness at Home is a 16-minute documentary directed by VWC Associate Professor of Communication Stu Minnis and Director of Community Service Diane Hotaling. The film brings viewers through one full night of the shelter, breaking down the evening’s events into segments including arrival, dinner, social time, lights out and departure. The filmmakers hope that other colleges and universities will view this structured sheltering model and consider adopting a similar program.
"It is not unusual for college students to serve the homeless population, but it is, indeed, unusual for colleges to host homeless men and women on their campuses," says Hotaling. "A strong partnership, a supportive campus community, and wide-eyed, energetic, optimistic college students are the elements of our success that others can duplicate."
Established in 2007 and founded by students, Virginia Wesleyan hosts the shelter in partnership with PVH for one week each January. It is one of the only shelters of its kind operated on a college campus in the United States. Though it is a collaborative campus effort, the shelter is staffed and managed primarily by student volunteers.
The shelter takes place during the College's Winter Session academic term and is typically tied with an academic course on the issue of homelessness in America. In keeping with the College’s Wesleyan heritage, VWC students are encouraged to become engaged citizens who care about their community in active ways. The shelter provides a unique opportunity for students to break down social barriers, look beyond stereotypes and make meaningful connections.
“From a sociological perspective, we really want our students to learn what’s behind the statistics and what can get easily lost in the classroom,” VWC Professor of Sociology Kathy Stolley says in the film. “Behind all those statistics are people with real lives and real circumstances that have real stories to tell.”
In the video, Stolley also touches on the transferable skills students gain through their experience with the shelter, including leadership and project management abilities, organizational skills and the ability to work and communicate with diverse populations. Many alumni return to share these skills as volunteers, like Cassandra Allison ’10, who now works as a senior counselor at the YMCA of Portsmouth.
“It’s being a part of something bigger than my daily life,” Allison says in the video. “I get to come here and be a part of somebody else’s life…do something good and positive and actually help change something.”
Volunteers aren’t the only ones who can learn from this experience, as former shelter guest Larry Maye-Moore explains in the video.
“I’m really glad and grateful that this College has done what they’ve done,” says Maye-Moore. “Other colleges, please step up and do the same. It’s just one week and I guarantee that one week that you spend, you’ll learn a lot from homeless people and homeless people could learn a lot from you.”
View the video and learn more at www.vwu.edu/shelter.