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OGDEN — On the first night when snow was expected, 14-year-old Alyssa Snyder and her friends thought sleeping outside was a good idea. But they weren't doing it just for fun; they were hoping to learn something.
"I've always wondered what homeless people have to go through during the winter," Alyssa said.
The group of Girl Scouts from the Ogden area, were part of a project Friday night. Camping just off Washington Boulevard, their aim was to remind people that not everyone can turn up a heater.
"(The homeless) just have a really hard life; and sometimes it's hard for them, with our economy these days, to find jobs. And they just don't have a place to go," Alyssa said.
She and her friends say they understand that some people are less fortunate, but they wanted to experience it — sleeping in a box, eating the bare minimum, and trying to keep warm — even though they knew it wasn't going to be easy.
"They can read about it in the paper. They can see it in a book, but to experience it they get a better understanding," said Dolores O'Donnell, the Girl Scout group's service unit director.
The girls decorated their boxes to try and make it a little like home. They also were hoping to get some donations, like coats and scarves, to bring to a homeless shelter.
"They should open their hearts and just donate more stuff, because we all have stuff we don't need that we can give away," Alyssa said.
Sure, one night isn't truly like being homeless, but it's something. It's a start, the girls say, to better understand how difficult this lifestyle can be, and how sometimes the homeless don't have any other choice.
"They might just have lost their job, or maybe they don't have family they can stay with," Alyssa said.
Email: acabrero@ksl.com
