Students go homeless
By Mackenzie Sunday

Photo by Mackenzie Sunday Ann Taylor and Brennan Baylis huddle together at the Homeless for the Homeless event, which was held November 16, 2007.

A few A.C. Flora students participated in the Homeless for the Homeless event November 16, 2007 at the Salvation Army on Main Street. The event was organized by Midtown Fellowship to raise awareness of the homeless problem in Columbia.

The event allowed participants to serve and learn about homelesness. Ann Taylor and Brennan Baylis, sophomores at A. C. Flora High School participated. They slept outside in the 29 degree weather.

"We got to the Salvation Army at 8 o'clock that night," said Brennan Baylis. She and her friend Ann Taylor, spent their evening talking and watching

The Pursuit of Happiness,

a movie about homelessness, which was played on a projector for the participants to watch.

The students slept in the courtyard with 6oo other people. "It was about 28 degrees but it felt much colder. I had so many layers on I couldn't move, but it was worth it," said Taylor.

Taylor and Baylis got up at 7 am and ate a breakfast of sausage and eggs. Taylor helped with the different activities for participants, and Baylis helped renovate rooms in the Salvation Army facility.

Both girls learned that, "Doing hard work with a smile on your face really has a great effect on people and gives you a sense of gratitude." Baylis said that doing the project was, "a really humbling experience, and it was great that it raised so much awareness and money for less fortunate people."