Dodds holds annual Couch-a-thon

Sophomore Paul Lao was exhausted.\nBy 11:15 a.m. Saturday, he had been awake for nearly 11 hours on a sofa at the corner of 10th Street and Jordan Avenue.\nThe annual Dodds Couch-A-Thon ran from noon Friday to noon Saturday to raise money for Shelter, Inc.\nThe activity ran for 24 hours, but the largest group was out around midnight.\n"The last couple hours are a little dead," said senior Gerard Gasparino, who was in charge of coordinating the event. By 4 or 5 a.m., Gasparino said most had gone inside.\nAdam Russell, an alumnus of Dodds, came back to Bloomington from Batesville, Ind., to support the Couch-A-Thon.\n"I was out a couple hours last night," he said. Several alumni came back to support the "couch sitters" and join in on the fun.\nGasparino said participants had fun during the night, with loud music playing while the house residents asked for donations from passers-by. Lao even chased an SUV down 10th Street to Pizza Express and was rewarded with a $3 donation. After Lao caught up with them, the occupants even gave him a ride back to the couches.\nThe plastic tub used for money collection held everything from American dollars to pesos, condoms and candy. "People got pretty creative," Gasparino said.\nPizza Express came by three times during the night to show support and boost energy with free pizza. Michael Reinke, executive director of Shelter, Inc., said the IU Foundation is also a heavy supporter of the fund-raiser, and promised to match funds raised by Dodds.\nShelter, Inc. provides transitional housing for Bloomington residents who are trying to move from homelessness to permanent housing. The shelter has financial problems, but is still able to house 30 single adults and nine families on any given night, according to its Web site. \n"Every $200 provides emergency shelter for a family for a week," Reinke said. "We have been overwhelmed with people needing emergency shelter. We need donations of volunteer time in the evening and of course donations to keep the lights on."\nShelter Inc.'s brochure states that 186 of the 662 people served in 1999 were homeless children. Of the shelter's residents, 49 percent are families, including 28 percent children. The average family stays for nine weeks, according to a release from the shelter.\nGasparino estimates residents raised about $1,600 for the shelter from the event. He said the residents of Dodds will count the funds later this week, then go to the bank and write a check to the shelter.\nBut after Saturday, Lao said Dodds residents were ready for a good night's sleep. The couches went in at noon, but Lao was too tired for that.\n"I am gonna crash," he said. "I can't lift anything"