Homelessness campaign raises $27k

The JMSB’s “Five days For the Homeless” campaign raised almost $27,000 for Montreal charity Dans La Rue. The amount was down from last year’s total of $42,000, just shy of the $30,000 goal. The effort, part of a larger Canadian campaign, saw a group of around 10 students sleeping outside at the intersection of Mackay and De Maisonneuve for five consecutive nights.
Despite the hardships, the students remained enthusiastic about the experience. “Its being going really well. It’s a lot easier than last year, when we had mountains of snow and -20 degree weather,” said Josh Redler, a Concordia graduate who was participating in his second campaign. “People have been so generous.”
Thomas Prince, an anthropology and economics student, also praised his fellow Concordia students. “They’ve been unbelievable. We always had people offering to bring us stuff.” Sleeping outside came with its difficulties, however. “St. Patrick’s night was interesting, with all the drunks passing us by. We’ve seen a lot of drunk high school kids, and there was a group of tourists that thought it would be fun to jump on us and roll around on us while we were sleeping.”
As to what they missed the most, the answer was unanimous.
“I’m dying for a shower,” said Prince with a laugh. “We all are.”