The DeHority Complex faced a few challenges Friday night while hosting its Box City event when a cold front brought low temperatures and rain to the Ball State campus.
Freshman Malia Manor helped run the event and said she felt that although the rain slowed the event down, students were still having fun.
"I think the weather sort of took a turn for the worst," Manor said. "We tried to stay hopeful but it wouldn't do that and I think it's a good thing that we kept it going for tonight because we didn't have the competition of the carnival.
"People that have been here have been enthusiastic and that's awesome to see even though it's not as much quantity, it's really good quality."
The Box City event enabled students to donate canned foods to Second Harvest Food Bank in exchange for boxes to build a house. Students also received plastic covers for their box houses.
Senior Hunter Lambright also helped run the event and handed out boxes in exchange for cans.
"You bring in a can, you get three to five boxes," Lambright said. "One can is three big boxes and then the exchange rate is like one big box is two small ones. You can trade those in. We provided the plastic wrap right there."
Several teams stayed inside to take advantage of a dry, warm shelter and to keep working on their houses until the rain stopped.
"We're just building supports right now to kind of go in the corners so that the walls aren't pressing in on each other and so it doesn't twist around," freshman Nathan Clark said. "We're making pretty good progress; we'll haul all the stuff we've prefabricated outside and put it all together."
Some teams stayed outside in their houses, braving the cold, wet weather and experiencing what homelessness can be like while enjoying the chance to build a box house.
Sophomore Erin Cromer and freshman Trevor Bly, both resident assistants in Kinghorn Hall, said they were glad they decided to take part in the event despite the weather.
"It's interesting, it's been fun actually, even with the rain and stuff," Bly said. "It was hard to build it with the rain because duct tape doesn't stick to anything wet but it's worked for us."
Cromer agreed it was hard to build in the rain.
"But it's really been a learning experience because you know, we can go in and get warm anytime we want but someone who actually has to make a home out of a box cannot," Cromer said.
The event will last until 8 a.m. Saturday and the award will be given to the team with the best box house.
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