Snow a boon to 'homeless' Brock students
Posted By Samantha Craggs

On Monday afternoon, one day into the experiment, the signs still barely showed.

Their faces bore a five-o’clock shadow. They wore thick gloves and bundled under a sleeping bag. Otherwise, there were few hints that Brock University business students Jake Morrison, Ted Soepboer and Noor Mufti had become newly homeless for five days, sleeping outside for the national Five Days for the Homeless campaign.

“Someone gave me a pink blanket,” said Soepboer, crouched inside the roof-less igloo constructed by Morrison to break the windchill.

“I think I’m getting a pillow tonight,” Mufti said.

The Brock group is part of an effort that includes nine other Canadian business schools this week as students camp out on campuses from Sunday to Friday. At four Ontario universities, as well as schools from British Columbia to Quebec, business students are raising awareness and money for charities that help homeless youth. Locally, fundraised dollars go to Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold.

The trio, who barely knew each other before Sunday, are still attending classes and fulfilling their regular academic duties. But they have no money or access to food, drinks, showers or new clothes. They can wash up briefly in campus washrooms, but their only food is what is donated to them. If they don’t have classes, they are outside.

The weekend snowstorm has proven advantageous. Soepboer burrowed into the snow for warmth Sunday night. Mufti slept in a doorway. Morrison had his snow structure.

Betty-Lou Souter, Community Care chief executive officer, said she is impressed by the effort. The need to rely on friends for food and handouts rings true, she said. It is also not far from what real cash-strapped university students have resorted to for survival.

There are people sleeping outside in the Garden City, she said. One makes a fortress from bags of garbage and cardboard boxes. Another makes a shelter from filled shopping carts.

“They use anything to break the wind, because once you get cold, you get really cold,” she said.

However, “I hope (the students) put something between themselves and the ground,” she said. “Real homeless people make sure they’re off the ground.”

Souter plans to visit the group to chat with them and provide encouragement. She also gave them a sleeping bag she often loans to the real homeless.

“We can’t make them come in,” she said of people on the streets, “but we can make them as dry and as warm as possible.”

There are some safety nets. The students have cellphones. They will go indoors if temperatures drop dangerously low. Otherwise, they must rely on their cardboard signs such as “homeless, please help” or “I could use a coffee, others need more.”

“This is a nice reminder of things we actually need,” said Morrison. “Like a Blackberry. I’ve realized now I don’t really need a Blackberry.”

The project is not an exact replica of homelessness, but a reasonable facsimile, said project co-ordinator Rachelle Quesnelle. A secondary goal was to dispel the notion that business students are not interested in community service, she said.

Soepboer is vice-president of the Brock Marketing Association, Moor is president of the Brock Human Resources Management Association and Morrison is a member of the Brock Students Association.

The event started three years ago at the University of Alberta. So far, $30,000 has been raised. Donations can be made online by visiting www.5days.ca and selecting St. Catharines.

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