Art students ask for change for social change; seek to raise awareness about homeless stereotypes

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Ashley Chaplain did not hesitate to give money to a stranger with a sign Thursday afternoon.

“It’s hard out here and everybody needs a little help,” the Wixom junior said. “It’s $346 a credit hour and I take 19 credits, so I know what it’s like to need a little change.”

But the stranger Chaplain gave money to was not looking for help for himself.

Pennsylvania senior Benjamin Smith was out to dispel stereotypes surrounding homelessness for his course, ART 318: Aesthetics.

The students had to do an interventionist art piece, which required them to interact with the environment, Smith said. Other students chose tasks like asking people to paint with them.

“I kind of wanted to do something more with social change,” he said.

Smith is working with Grand Blanc senior Nicole Magness-dean and Melissa LaLonde, a Monroe senior, to raise awareness about homelessness before the holidays.

The trio has sat around campus and across town dressed up and asking for change.

“Generally everybody’s surprised, if they acknowledge it,” Smith said. “You look away because it is outside social norms.”

St. Louis junior Lauren Penzien chose not to donate.

She said when she donates, she tends to give to larger organizations, like the Salvation Army.

“I try to help, but I cannot help everyone,” Penzien said.

She was one of dozens of people who chose to walk by the seated students, many without glancing up.

Even community members kept the trend. Wednesday afternoon LaLonde sat outside the Empty Keg Party Store, 122 E. Pickard St.

“It didn’t work as well, people didn’t feel sorry for me,” she said. “(They) thought I was going to spend it on booze.”

That stereotype was something their group was trying to dispel. They chose not to specify what they would use the money for on their signs, Smith said.

He said people assume you are going to misappropriate the money, for drugs or other habits. The group plans to give all the money they raise to the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, 621 S. Adams St.

“I really just liked the premise behind it,” Magness-dean said. “(Changing) the assumptions people make about homelessness.”