If you have ever walked on Hillsborough Street or Western Boulevard, you have probably experienced at least one homeless person approach you. Every night there are about 1,100 homeless people that roam around Wake County. With such an open campus, right in the middle of the county, it is easy for anyone to walk on to the campus.

While there have been many efforts to fix the homelessness problem around the Raleigh area, it still seems that every time I walk on Hillsborough Street, I am approached by a homeless person. And every time I am approached I know exactly what to expect.

They sometimes give you a sob story about their family and ask you for any kind of help you can give; which is an obvious elicitation for money. Then you’re faced with the decision; if I don’t give them money I’ll feel bad, yet if I do, they’re scamming a few bucks from me. This decision is not a new one to any of us, especially when we are approached so often, right on campus.

Rather than ignore the issue, we need to become aware and help fix the problem rather than just ignore it. If students educate themselves about homeless people and the different options available to them, they could relay that information to the homeless people, and thus begin to fix the problem. I am sure most of the other students feel the same way I do in that they would rather help fix the problem rather than contribute to it.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but as a woman walking by myself, I do not feel comfortable having an adult male approach me asking for money. Not only do they approach me, but they make certain I cannot and do not pass them before they have asked me for money. They not only pose as a threat to non-students walking around, but also the students on campus. This is due to the easy access they have to campus. Rather than fuel this attitude towards homelessness, we must take action to prevent it.

Being on N.C. State’s campus, we are in the heart of the problem. We can use this to our advantage to make a difference. If students work together to educate these people about their options rather than ignoring them or giving them pocket change, it might make a difference. Gaining knowledge about the nearby homeless shelters and soup kitchens and relaying that knowledge to the homeless people could help them more than giving them the few extra quarters left over from your meal at Bojangles.