Yesterday was the official end of our campaign. 120 hours of homelessness, and over $5000 later. What an experience, thinking back to it I am so glad that I was lucky enough to be homeless with such great people, it would not have been the same without them. The campus was awesome, to my surprise the majority of our donations actually came from students! We had no illusions and knew that students didn’t have very much disposable income and yet with lots of students coming out, some everyday to give us whatever pocket change they had it was clear that they had the biggest hearts. It was incredible to find out the totals at the end of each of the fives days. It really invigorated our spirits and got us more passionate each day, without them the five days would not have been the same! I’d like to extend a thank you to everyone who came out and visited, to my family and friends, and to all the contributors and organizers of this campaign! All funds raised have gone to help Wyndham House a local youth shelter working to make more secure living situations and more promising outlooks for youth here in Guelph who have fallen on hard times.
Sadly many of these youth and other less fortunate members of our society are forced into the fringe of our neighborhoods to find shelter, the dumpsters of restaurants for food, and into begging and performing on the streets for money. With little hope of accumulating enough wealth to get out of their tough situation, without the support networks to look after them, or the availability of resources to access education and health care many of these homeless individuals fall through the cracks. It is not a shortcoming in the individuals that fall through the cracks but rather a shortcoming in our system. The most troubled in society are the easiest to ignore, and the least likely to be helped because they don’t have the energy to make the same amount of noise those with a fixed address and secure financial situation do. After this campaign I encourage those still following to get the message out there to reseal the cracks and check the corroded cement alleys and other places in our society for those who commonly go unnoticed and ignored. I encourage you to find them, to ask them their story, and to help in anyway you can as even though this campaign is over for now, the issue still doesn’t have a bed.
A home – After five days on campus, being homeless and having to sleep outside I got to come home to a bed, a hot shower and 4 awesome roommates that I love dearly! But not everyone is so lucky.
And thank you for having my 5pm beer ready!