It Was a Cardboard Campout

On Saturday, 10 intrepid East Hampton High School sophomores braved the elements by spending the night in cardboard boxes on the lawn of the school, all for a good cause.

Organized by Girl Scout Troop 1768 with help from its leader, Linda Blowe, and Annette Hinkle and Adam Flax, who are parents, the cardboard campout was inspired by a similar event held annually at Shelter Island High School, designed to raise awareness of the issue of homelessness and to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.

The U.P.S. store in East Hampton donated more than a dozen cardboard wardrobe boxes that served as home overnight. The students decorated them by adding windows and drawings or tagging them with personal graffiti. After a pizza dinner, the campers enjoyed a few rounds of manhunt, played games around a fire pit, and roasted s’mores for dessert.

According to Ms. Hinkle, the temperature plummeted around 11 p.m., and then the complaints began. But the big crisis, she said, came as the campers were settling into their boxes for the night and a couple of spiders and a slug were spotted nearby. The girls prevailed, however.

In the weeks ahead, the campers will set out to raise $1,000 for Habitat for Humanity, which will earn them a “build day” during which they will work on a house under construction by Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk County.

The East Hampton I.G.A. and Cook Maran and Associates also donated toward the campout.