Shack-A-Thon/Give-A-Goat 4.0 kicks off on April 18 and students are getting ready to construct and live in temporary structures made of little more than wooden pallets, cardboard and tape.

The event is sponsored by the WT Alliance, a coalition of campus ministries, to raise money to buy goats for people in Africa. The five campus ministries represented in the alliance are Buffs for Christ (Church of Christ Bible Chair), BSM (Baptist Student Ministry), CSC (Catholic Student Center), NAVS (Navigators) and The Wesley (Methodist Student Ministry).

“The students like pooling their money and giving holistically [to buy a goat],” Kent Mereness, director of the West Texas Church of Christ Bible Chair and member of the WT Alliance, said.Mereness explained that the past three years it cost $75 to purchase a goat for Sudan, however this year goats are being bought for a different region in Kenya, Turkana, and the cost of a goat for this region is $50.

“We’re looking forward to buying more goats than ever,” he said.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. when students are given the pallets and cardboard collected for the event.

”People get real creative at Shack-A-Thon,” Isaac Atchison, a senior Endowment Science major, said. ”A lot of ideas fly around, not always in a coherent way.”

Shacks in the past have ranged from simple box structures to full-blown towers.

“Shack-A-Thon raises awareness for poverty by giving students a unique picture of poverty. It is also the culmination for Give-A-Goat,” Debra Cooper, a junior Biochemistry major, said. “It’s all about raising money and awareness.”

In the past three years, the event has raised more than $50,000 to buy goats.