Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) rallies up and prepares for a cold night’s sleep outside.

The men of ATO are having their first fall philanthropy event to help bring homelessness awareness to Simpson College.

ATO’s Sleepout for the Homeless will be held Wednesday, Dec. 7 starting at 10 p.m. on the practice field across from the fraternity houses.

The men will sleep outside all night and then head off to their classes the following Thursday morning.

The money ATO raises will go to Hope Ministries, a homeless shelter located in Des Moines.

ATO’s Sleepout for the Homeless is very similar to Reggie’s Sleepout.

“Reggie’s Sleepout is an event held up in Des Moines every year,” said Jordan Glawe, senior and treasurer of ATO. “They raise money for a homeless shelter. You just camp out and there’s a bunch of people from all over that come down and set up sleeping bags and cardboard boxes.”

The goal of Reggie’s Sleepout is to have people experience homelessness in a unique and different way while raising money for homeless shelters.

Cardboard boxes are used to make houses for people to sleep in at night to give people as close of an experience as possible to being homeless,said Alex Palmquist senior and ATO member.

Drake’s stadium holds Reggie’s Sleepout yearly and raises money for homeless shelters.

“We thought Reggie’s Sleepout was a good cause and it was something that we hadn’t done before,” Glawe said.

Sophomore Tiffany Torno has experience participating in Reggie’s Sleepout and other service events.

“I love service in general and it’s a fun way to kind of experience what it’s like to be homeless,” Torno said.

Some of the men of ATO wanted to go to Reggie’s Sleepout in late October but couldn’t make it.

“Reggie’s Sleepout was just a month ago, but this is a good chance for anybody who didn’t get a chance to support the homelessness problem during Reggie’s Sleepout to come down and still give their support,” Glawe said.

ATO wants to show their support by having a Sleepout for the Homeless.

“We decided we were going to do one of our own here on campus,” Glawe said.

However, there is a difference in Iowa weather from October to December, but this isn’t deterring the

fraternity.

“It’s going to be cold,” Glawe said. “We all know that.”

Palmquist is preparing for the cold weather carefully and said that sleeping out in the cold will make it that much more realistic for them.

Glawe has a different outlook on the cold weather.

“We’re going to have blankets and were going to be wearing heavy clothes,” Glawe said. “Part of it is to be kind of cold because it’s to bring awareness to the homeless problem.”

If weather doesn’t cooperate and it ends up raining the event will be pushed back to Thursday Glawe said.

The men are planning on having about 15 of their members sleeping outside through the cold for the philanthropy event Glawe said.

Excitement is growing for students on campus for the Sleepout for the Homeless event.

“I think it’s really awesome that ATO is doing an event like this,” Torno said.

Members of ATO are anxious to raise awareness of homelessness to the Simpson campus.

“I’m excited,” Palmquist said. “I’ve never done anything like this before, but I think that other people will see it and be aware that there are actually people that don’t have homes that are outside in this kind of weather every night.”

ATO hopes to help out a charity in need that is close to Simpson College.

“We just wanted to raise awareness of homeless people in Des Moines,” Palmquist said.

Everyone is invited to show his or her support.

“I plan on supporting ATO in their event,” Torno said.

ATO welcomes anyone who would like to withstand the cold for a night to help the cause.