Shack-a-thon hardliners endured a wet Wednesday evening as they strove to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.
At least one person must be in each shack at all times, and those in attendance in shacks with leaky roofs were drenched. Nonetheless, spirits were high–the money has been flowing in all week.
In the lead once again this year is the College of Management shack, which has raised about $3,000.
Samantha Ballard, a senior in accounting, was in the COM shack before the downpour began.
“We are in the lead so far. One of the guys from Habitat [for Humanity] came by earlier. Traditionally they have ranked the top four shacks. Now they just do College of Management, and then two, three, four,” Ballard said.
COM does not have a particular monetary goal in mind this year, but they want to raise more than they did last year when they raised about $5,000, according to Ballard.
“We have two more days left, and we are getting pretty close,” Ballard said.
Although their main fundraising hub is their shack in the Brickyard, they are also taking donations daily in Nelson Hall where management classes are held.
“We are excited for this, and at this point we don’t want to take our shack down,” Ballard said.
Jonathan Burrus , a senior in environmental technology and management, stood outside of his shack, which graduate students in the College of Design helped him design and fabricate.
Made out of plastic–the only shack not made of wood–it consisted of cut-out circles that were joined together with a sort of rivet. Standing about three feet tall, the structure was the shape of a dome.
“Students from the design school came up with the design and pieced it together. It only took a couple hours to put together,” Burrus said. “They are from a prototype class in the design school.”
All of the plastic, similar to the type used in election signs seen on roadsides, was donated by Signs By Tomorrow and Piedmont Plastics.
This unique shack also utilized a solar panel. It charged a 12-volt battery during the day that powered a small light inside the shack overnight.
“They fell asleep with the light on last night, which caused it to die, but it has been working well,” Burrus said.
The idea behind the design was its ease of fabrication and construction. Burrus said the shack is easy to store, and they hope to use the same shack next year.
Teaching Fellows student Nick Peaks, a freshman in secondary education, was at the Fellows shack Wednesday. He was in the last Teaching Fellows class before the program was eliminated by the General Assembly earlier this year.
“We haven’t raised much, but we have been working together all week to raise as much as we can,” Peaks said.
