National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week falls on November 15–21, 2026. In the days before Thanksgiving, campuses and towns hold food drives and overnight sleepouts to raise money for local shelters.
Dates and Organizers
Every year, Sunday through Saturday of the week before Thanksgiving week. In 2025, Villanova’s events ran from Sunday, November 16, to Saturday, November 22.
Villanova University students began it in 1975. Two national groups now lead it, the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness and the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Schedules vary by host, and the hhweek.org site lists events by location. Groups can register their own event there and download an organizing toolkit.
A Student Idea That Spread
It began as a campus talk. Students met to discuss the root causes of poverty, guided by the late Father Ray Jackson, an Augustinian priest.
From there, the group set out to use education against homelessness. Villanova held its 51st annual observance in 2025.
Raymond Ward of Villanova’s Center for Peace and Justice Education credited Jackson’s “vision and passion” at the milestone.
Growth has been steady. Villanova calls the week the largest effort of its kind in the country, with more than 700 campuses and communities taking part.
Hundreds of thousands of people have joined in over the years, by NCH’s count. Their events have raised millions for local service providers.
Events in 2025 showed the range. Villanova held a run with the nonprofit Back on My Feet, a “walk in their shoes” poverty simulation and a sleepout on the Riley Ellipse.
Its keynote carried a pointed title: “50 Years Too Many: The Origins and Legacy of HHAW at Villanova.”
Why the Week Matters
The National Coalition for the Homeless calls it a time for communities to “contribute, advocate, reach out and educate.”
Organizers keep the ask short. NCH’s slogan for the week is “Volunteer. Donate. Educate.”
Need is growing. On a single night in January 2024, HUD counted 771,480 people experiencing homelessness, the highest number on record.
That was 18.1% more than a year earlier. Families were hit hardest, with 259,473 people in families with children, up 39.4%.
Veterans were the exception, with homelessness among them down 7.6%.
Hunger reaches further. USDA found that 13.7% of U.S. households, or 18.3 million, were food insecure at some point in 2024.
Chronic homelessness rose as well. HUD counted 152,585 people with chronic patterns of homelessness, up 6.6%.
Children feel it too. About 7.3 million lived in homes where both kids and adults were food insecure.
How to Help This Week
- Join or start a campus sleepout that raises money for a local shelter, as Villanova students do.
- Organize a Thanksgiving food drive with a nearby pantry, as Villanova’s Center for the Common Good did in 2025.
- Volunteer a shift at a shelter or soup kitchen, and ask what they need most in winter.
- Host a teach-in using HUD’s latest homelessness count for your area.
- Run a poverty simulation with a youth group or class.
- Contact local officials about housing and food assistance programs.
- Look up an event near you on hhweek.org, or register one of your own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who started Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week?
Students at the Pennsylvania university, with guidance from a campus priest.
Is the week the same as Thanksgiving week?
No. It ends before the holiday, so groups can collect food in time for it.
How many households had very low food security?
About 7.2 million, or 5.4%, according to USDA.
Who benefits from Villanova’s sleepout?
Breaking Bread Community Shelter, a nonprofit in Upper Darby that offers temporary housing in Delaware County.
Sources
- Villanova University – 51st Annual Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (2025)
- National Coalition for the Homeless – National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week
- National Coalition for the Homeless – Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
- HUD – 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, Part 1 (PDF)
- USDA Economic Research Service – Food Security in the U.S.: Key Statistics