Brock students participating in last month’s 5 Days for the Homeless campaign raised a total of $7,669.05, including $3,000 in food donations, for Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold.

The national campaign aims to raise awareness of at-risk youth and youth homelessness in communities across Canada.

Students participating in the campaign give up necessities and comforts such as shelter, proper sleeping arrangements, access to food (except what is donated to them), heat, lighting and showers.

Business student Emma Lahay, who helped organize the campaign through the Goodman Business Students’ Association and also participated in it by sleeping outside for the week, describe it as an eye-opening experience.

“I learned to appreciate how much we actually have as students and coming from a good family and a lot of people don’t have the privileges such as a home to stay in or hot food every day to eat,” she said.

The students were grateful for the support of Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold throughout the week, with CEO Betty-Lou Souter and various board members visiting them to show their support. The students also had support from Laura Byers, Fund Development Officer at Community Care, who pulled up her sleeping bag and slept outside for one night as part of the campaign, a move appreciated by the students.

Conversations with Goodman host Susan LeBlanc interviewed Byers about 5 Days for the Homeless, who described her involvement as a very powerful experience.

“With over 35,000 Canadians on any given night homeless, it wasn’t really much of a sacrifice for me. It really put homeless life into perspective for me,” she said.

“The commitment that we see, year after year, from Brock University, is really tremendous. To witness the student engagement within the community, they are basically ambassadors for us at Community Care. We are so grateful for that continued support.”

This podcast is the latest in the Conversations with Goodman series which is produced by the Goodman Marketing, Communications and Alumni Relations team and features guests from the Goodman community.