Bring on the rain, the wind and the chilly night.

Members of a Kansas University fraternity are braving the elements outside Wescoe Hall to raise awareness and money for people who are homeless.

“We are here to deal with it. You have to get a feel for it,” said Mark DuPree, one of seven men from the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity who began the campout at 8 a.m. Monday. It will end at 10 tonight.

The fraternity members want students and others who might pass Wescoe to stop and contribute a few dollars, canned food or clothing to aid the cause. The money raised in what is being billed as Project Homeless Alpha will go to the Jubilee Cafe. Other items will be donated to the Salvation Army.

The cafe provides breakfast two days a week to the homeless and others in need. It is in the First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt. The Salvation Army, 946 N.H., is a homeless shelter and provides noon meals for the needy.

This is the third year for the fraternity’s homeless benefit fund-raiser. Two of the benefits have involved outdoor campouts. The event usually brings in a little more than $1,000 plus other items, said DuPree, a Kansas City, Kan., senior. No specific fund-raising goal was set, he said.

Letters seeking donations also were sent in advance to various KU organizations and businesses.

DuPree sometimes plays a saxophone to attract donors.

“Give them a little tune in the morning and maybe they’ll come over,” he said.

DuPree said he got the idea for the saxophone while serving an internship with Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback in Washington, D.C. He talked with a homeless man who played the saxophone well.

“He said he just wanted to play his blues away,” DuPree said. “Some of the most intellectually inclined people are homeless.”

Anthony Brown, another fraternity member, recalled talking with a homeless man in Lawrence who claimed to have a doctorate. The man had encountered several personal setbacks that put him out on the street, Brown said.

“There are a lot of homeless people like that,” said Brown, a junior from Grandview, Mo.

The fraternity members weren’t too concerned about the weather.

6News video: Fraternity camps out for homeless

“It’s kind of chilly now,” said William Clayton, a Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, as he faced a stiff north wind while wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

The group was prepared Monday night to move to the south side of Wescoe to get out of the wind if necessary, DuPree said.

Casey Collier, a senior from Shawnee, was one of the students who stopped by to donate money.

“If they can’t make it, they’re weak,” Collier said with a laugh.

“It can only be symbolic,” DuPree said. “It’s not going to be exactly like what they (homeless) do.”