Despite the brisk October weather, University of Massachusetts students came together on Friday wearing their brightly colored tee-shirts, shorts and undergarments and sporting black, red and white body paint on their skin, all to benefit charity.

On Oct. 18, students participated in the second annual Nearly Naked Mile, a run starting at the Northeast quad and ending at the Southwest concourse where participants wore minimal clothing in order to embody what the 16,000 homeless in Massachusetts will be going through when colder temperatures roll in this year.

“There are a number of homeless people in the area that don’t have appropriate clothing,” said Erin McDowell, assistant director for Student and Young Alumni Programs at UMass. “So this is a way for [participants] to see what it’s like to have those conditions.”

Zack Taylor, a junior at UMass, arrived at the event sporting a pair of Dr. Seuss-themed  boxers and then decided to complete the ensemble by painting red, white and black fish from the infamous book “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” all over his body.

“Everyone is really excited and upbeat and it’s getting me pumped up,” he said before the race. “I’m just doing it for fun.”

Participants also donated their gently used clothes at the run to benefit the Amherst Survival Center, a local organization that offers struggling families and individuals free services such as a drop-in health clinic, soup kitchen and food pantry.

“In the spirit of UMass being located in Amherst, why not give back to those that are in the community that the students are also apart of?” added McDowell.

Lauren Barney, a member of the Student Alumni Association and a volunteer at the event, said she was particularly proud of how gracious people were with their clothing donations. She even noticed people donating new and high quality clothes.

“It’s interesting to see people are donating nice clothes,” Barney said. “[People] are not so materialistic.”

The event also directly benefited students of the University, since $10 from every registration fee went to UMass student scholarships.

“UMass does so many things to support charity,” said sophomore Gina Benedetto who ran the race with “Zoomass” written down her arm in black body paint. “I might as well get involved and do what I can.”

For some, this event was a completely new experience. Valerie Vargas, a sophomore exchange student from Puerto Rico, said that she ran the Nearly Naked Mile with her friends because it is not something she has ever had the opportunity to do in her hometown.  But she hopes to change that.

“I’ve never done it before. There’s nothing like it in Puerto Rico,” she said. “We are going to try and do it back home.”

The run was organized by the Student Alumni Association, a registered student organization that strives to form connections between alumni and students and get current UMass students involved on campus. According to McDowell, the SAA heard of the Nearly Naked Mile from a conference they went to and decided to make it a tradition at UMass.

“A lot of schools do a similar event, so we decided to adopt it ourselves,” said Brittany DiTullio, administrative coordinator of SAA. “It seems like people actually keep showing up for it every year. I think it’s probably going to just keep on going.”

DiTullio added that this year, the goal of SAA was simply to get more students to run in the event than last year, and by the looks of the crowd on Friday, she thinks the event was a success.

“I think we had around 300 students last year, so we are trying to get more,” she said. “But I think we had a good turnout.”

Jaclyn Bryson can be reached at [email protected].