Five Carleton students have forgone the warmth of their beds to sleep outside in order to raise money and awareness for support programs for homeless youth.
The 5 Days for the Homeless campaign kicked off March 11 on university campuses across the country. At Carleton, participants set up camp outside the Unicentre, even making a bed out of cardboard boxes, to raise funds for Operation Come Home.
Third-year business student Alanna Favretto said she decided to participate this year after seeing it the last few years.
“I have known about the campaign for while now and I was always interested, but I was too nervous,” Favretto said.
“It feels like we are raising lots of money and many people have stopped to give us food,” she said, after accepting a bag of soy nuts and an orange from a fellow student.
Sponsored by the Sprott School of Business, this is Carleton’s third year participating in the campaign to help support programs for homeless youth.
In order for the proceeds to go entirely to Operation Come Home, all of the food and other necessities have been donated, the participants said. Operation Come Home offers programs for homeless youth including drop-in centres and offering them help to find employment.
The participants are also handing out small pamphlets explaining the different programs. Most nights, the five permanent sleepers are joined by a guest. This year’s guest sleepers included the dean of Sprott and Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.
“I did one at Concordia in 2010,” said Trudeau, adding he agreed to participate at Carleton this year almost instantly after being asked.
Last year, the Carleton campaign had four students sleeping outside and raised $11,000 for the Operation Come Home campaign.
This year the goal is set for $12,500. The 5 Days for the Homeless started at the University of Alberta School of Business in 2005 and went national in 2008, according to their website. Each city is raising money for a different organization, but they all focus on homeless youth in that community.
“The fact that we have gone from six or seven participating schools to 24 is so exciting,” said Carleton student Kristina Partsinevelos, the group’s director of Central Canada.
This is Partsinevelos’ fifth year organizing the campaign and her fourth time sleeping outside.
“The stories that you hear from the homeless youth [are] incredibly amazing,” Partsinevelos said. “I want people to not just assume why they are on the street.”
