Last night, we had Prof. Gok stay the night with us and help raise money. That man was a machine and we were all so thankful to have his help, as we were exhausted. He was up at the crack of dawn… 7am already cracking down on those who set foot on campus that early. We also had Amanda, Kasha and Steve, part of the organizing comittee stay the night as well. They were all shocked at how well we slept, as they all got maybe 4-5 hours. They were tempted to sleep right outside, as our carboard box became a sess pool of stink! We couldn’t tell… yikes.

This was sucha n incredible experience, and I wish everyone could experience homelessness for a night or two to really understand how difficult it is. Before I started this endeavour, I assumed everyone could get a job at McDonalds. To get a job, it requires a resume printed on paper, and it also requires the applicant to look, and feel presentable. Living on the street does not give you access to a shower to be clean, and it also allows you maybe 2-5 hours of sleep a day which equals exhaustion and staying outside all day sucks the energy right out of a guy!!! It was hard enough to try to study and stay awake in class this week. I felt like garbage. No way could I muster up my charisma for a job interview. Your self worth is terribly low while living out in the elements… and we didn’t have it as bad as an actual homeless person. Kudos to Daniel for not eating for about 30 hours yesterday to really feel the effects of homelessness, not having the generosity of food donations. (side not, I am NEVER eating another doughnut again!!!) So a lesson for everyone, don’t assumer life on the street is so “easy”. it’s not. Take the time to get to know the situation before you judge!!!

-I have to say thank you first to the organizing comitee I had the pleasure of working with to get the event going. You all worked so hard and should be very proud of the awareness on campus!

-To my homeless homies, I have never met 4 people that instantly gel. Kathleen said it perfectly tonight at Sushi “How did we not know eachother before! We’re totally the same person!”(yea we couldn’t ear the thought of not being together, so we went home, showered multiple times, and went for a proper dinner together)

-To Joel, Thank you for being the man behind the lens all week. I am going to miss crawling out of the hub all dazed and confused to go into the school to antiseptic my armpits and brush my teeth, and bing tucked into our sleeping bags, again, camera in face. Good luck with the project and we all are so stoked to see it… hopefully the 30th!

-And finally thank you to the UofL campus students and faculty. We never felt unwelcome on campus and never got any negative reactions when asking for a bit of spare change. You guys helped us raise over $12,000!!! So when we said 25 cents was good if that’s all you had, it really helped! The students amazed me! It’s the end of the semester, and we are all our of money, making the dreaded shameful phone call home pleaing for more funds. Some students emptied their pckets, which maybe amounted to $1.36 in change and still dug into their backpacks to pull out a bill! I was amazed and sooo thankful for the generosity.

Ok enough sentimental rambling. An event I highy recomend all to experience, by participation or donation!

Ciao and love.

Ky

So it’s the last day, and we’re only 4 hours away from the end! Everyone seems to be extra focused on donations today, we’re a team on a mission to absolutely destroy our goal of $10,000. We’ve been pumping up the 1st choice savings ATM to get as much out of those service charges as we can, it’s an amazing offer that first choice has given to us and i hope we utilize it. Pan handling has been going well and i think we have a real shot of blowing our goal out of the water!

I’m a little sad to say goodbye to everyone and to our hut. It’s served us well and held up through all of the rough wind this week. In 4 more hours we’ll all go our separate ways, shower and get some rest. It will be nice to do all those thing, but it was definitely a great group to spend these 5 days with, i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, it couldn’t have been a better group to do this with, alot of the fun, the laughs, the enjoyment i took from this was due to the people i did it with.

That being said i have also developed an extreme amount of respect for the homeless community. Through all the fun that we’ve had as a group, the week was still tough, the wind was killer and made every day cold, sleep was hard to get, and i could not imagine doing this as an everyday lifestyle. It would be so hard to get out of and so tough to continue on with. Especially if you were by yourself. I really hope that through this week we’ve made some little steps withing the Lethbridge community to bring this problem to the forefront of community awareness, and i hope the donation will help Woods Homes in their continued goals.

So I didn’t get a chance to write last night , and I don’t plan or writing to much tonight, but ill fill in the blanks.

So with the end approaching quick I have come to realization that life is tough on the streets. The bright colors that I once seen have turned dull. I cant even begin to imagine what it would be like for people who live this day in and out with no or little light at the end of the tunnel. 

Yesterday was spent raising money as usual. We had much success, and a special thanks goes out to Bruce Thurston, President Bill Cade and Barbra French for there large contributions to our cause. We were enable to pan handle at the on campus concert, and we had great success there!. 

This morning I ran the hallways again collecting in attempts to reach our goal. We had a hot dog sale, witch seemed to draw much attention.

My classmates raised a bunch of money, and I would like to acknowledge how much I appreciated it. My family came to visit me and drop off what they raised in the past couple days. Over 300…. sweet job fam!!! My lil sis was even hustling cupcakes to the teachers I once had…. thanks kels’!!! Its been a long 4 days, and I know we are going to reach or 10000 goal. I better hit the sac so I can wake up and hit the cold hard homeless pavement.

Thanks again everyone for your support!

Love Derrek

We are currently into our last 24 hrs of the 5 days, and to be honest I’m a little sad that it’s ending. Past participants said that we would bond, and man have we ever. It is now officially okay to fart infront of one another…just incase you were wondering.

As much fun as I have had these last fews days, meeting and talking to so many new and interesting people, I will not be too sad to go back to my life. I shower would just be glorious right now. We are roughly at the 80% mark right now, with 2,000$ to reach our goal, things are going good. We had a little hot dog sale today which helped us keep the funds coming in, and we also had a visit from some of the workers at Woods Homes, and a newscrew from Global.

I fell alseep in philosophy today, and I felt really bad about it, mostly because I woke up; I really needed a nap. This experience has proved to me that it is really hard to be homeless. We were treated pretty well these last few days, with more pie and tim bits than you could shake a stick at, but even with that support, and the shelter that our fortress provided was not enough to keep me feeling like bag of crap. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to live without any shelter, and with no food for days at a time. The cold and the hunger act like a vicious circle; you are tired and hungry so you don’t want to do anything, which means you don’t recieve and food or shelter, which means you feel even worse…its a disasterous downward spiral.

As crappy as I feel, I cannot image going through this for weeks, months, or even years at a time, not to mention having to deal with it when you’re 12 or 13. My heart goes out to those who who do have to live on the street. I hope this week has helped other people in lethbridge see how hard it is be homeless, becuase it has definatly opened my eyes.

Keep on Keepin on

Kathleen

Well last night ended up being an amazingly fun time. Once i got my second wind and starting feeling better things picked up. The bands that were playing in the Zoo were awesome and it was really nice to be let inside for a little bit at night. As well, once it was over we we’re able to get things figured out pretty quckly in our cardboard house and it was a warmer night with all those extra SU bodies in there!

Today has been good, i hope that we’ve raised a lot. We did a hotdog fundraiser today and sold out everything we had! Probably because of our whitty slogans we we’re constantly pitching! Who can resist the “Street meat that tastes so sweet!”

Today we’re trying to go with as little food as possible, because we’ve felt a bit spoiled from all the generous food donations. It’s tough to do. I gave in during the hot dog sale today and talked someone into buying me one. But other then that, that’s all i’ve had to eat today beside water and the orange drink we gave with the hotdogs…. so ya…. i’m hungry!

Only 24 hours to go almost exactly! It’s gonna be sad to say goodbye to our little group. It’s been an extraordinarily great experience and it’ll be hard to go back to the norm… although a shower would be nice. We should just see how much we could raise if we spent a month outside…. and see if we had any sanity left!

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll get a lot more donations and end with a bang! If you’re reading this make sure to take out money from the 1st choice savings atm outside the Tim Hortons in the PE building tomorrow! All the service charges from Friday will be donated to the cause!

Anyways, thats about it!

Check out www.ulsu.wordpress.com to read a bit more about last nights adventures with the SU exec!

What the Hell is going on with local businesses? Lethbridge has maybe the worst visible homeless population I have ever seen in any small city. I’m pretty sure Lethbridge is even classified as being rural.  This is absolutely pathetic.  People bitch and complain about the homeless population in Lethbridge, but when the time comes to finally put a plug in the hole, what happens? Nothing! Come on people. You want change, you’re going to have to give some.  The winds of change is a metaphor, not a fact, so you’d better not be depending on Lethbridge winds to blow the homeless problem away because unfortunately we don’t live in a Disney Movie.

I’m seriously ticked! The whole point of 5 Days For The Homeless was to show that Lethbridge business students give a crap. Don’t get me wrong, the management students have come together and proved that they, more than anyone, have what it takes to raise the money and that they give a damn! So Umm, I have a question. Where the hell are their future employers? Not one business has stepped up and given a dime. The excuse is what? Times are tough? Are you kidding me? Doesn’t that mean that you should be supporting homeless people seeing as how that’s who pays for your private jet? This perhaps is just asking too much, but maybe some of the fat local and national businesses should tighten their belt now that everyone else has had to do the same.

I honestly am ashamed to live in a country where this kind of greed and lack of compassion is the norm.  When people are down you help them up. Even a 13 year old at a rock and roll concert knows that. Why is it the same simple principles are merely preached by corporate money makers isntead of practised.

We’re poor jobless students and even we’re out there, trying to make a difference, and even sacrificing our own health and even grades at school to earn some respect and more importantly some of Businesses underserved money. You suck money from the poor and are giving them nothing back.

Correct me if I’m wrong but the trickle down theory is that eventually the money from the top is supposed to trickle down to the poor. Correct?  Instead of any social reponsibility, stores and producers haven’t helped anyone out but themselves. They’ve merely shown that they ARE the greedy feckless, money sucking, scumbags they appear to be. They will tread on and over anyone to keep themselves afloat even after all this time of patronage and support from those they depend on.

Thanks a lot guys,

I guess you might have just lost a customer.

What a last couple of days it has been. I’ll start with St. Patricks Day. While most students were at the campus bar drinking green beer, we spent the evening on the steps playing the alphabet game with song titles, bands and movies. Quite enjoyable actually! We had some tea before bed to warm us up, and had just settled into bed when we heard the workings of a fight outside our Hub. When the group left, they left one of their friends behind, who decided to check out the cardboard monstocity that was at the top of the stairs,, and then proceeded to be so kind and smoke inside. We kicked him out and then he startled Derrek, tried to fight him and told him he was only doing this to get laid. Right. We’re not eating, showering and sleeping outside in 100km/hr winds to pick up. If that weren’t enough, he decided it would be appropriate to leave a nice blood splatter from his bleeding mouth all over our Polkadot Door-esque front door.

Yesterday was amazing. Although donations were slow mid week, we had a few visitors. First we had one of UofL’s profs bring his two children, who were 8 and 12 I believe, down to check out what we were doing. I thought it was extremely important for them to see what we were doing and understand that woods home is for kids their age! I think it really opened their eyes. We also had a small jam session on the front steps. Later on, the girl from Global TV who came for media day stopped by with hot chocolate, on her day off! That was great. Our next visitor was actually one of the employees at Woods Home. She also sang our praises, which we couldn’t accept. Again, it’s to support them that we’re doing this! So thank you again, Woods Home!  She said there were 5 kids staying there last night and they all wanted to come down and visit us. Lets also keep in mind that Woods Home can sleep 8 kids, so they’re almost at capacity. We had a homemade cherry pie, so we sent her away with that for the kids. We were fortunate enough to have a concert at the Zoo last night so we got to cheat a little and go in for the night, with our collection jars of course, to raise more money. Everyone was extremely supportive, except when the 5 of us hit the dancefloor. We heard one comment of  “something smells really bad up here” and not too many people were dancing with us. Personally, I don’t think we smell bad at all, and being outside all day kinda airs us out anyways!!! By the way, everyone should check out The Stables and BA Johnson. I have never laughed so hard at this guy. Deffinately worth checking out. We also had the Students Union stay overnight with us, bringing our cardboard capacity to 9 people. The extra body heat deffinately helped and I slept all night. The only thing was my left hip is completely bruised and I can no longer sleep on it.

We are now closing in on day 4. I crawled out of the Hub this morning and was startled by our videographer, Joel, sitting at the bottom of the stairs, camera on the tripod and all. I really hope he wasn’t filming.

I don’t know if this is right, but I have had a blast! I have learned so much, and we have had so much support from the campus. A lot of people have complimented the volunteers at the table creating awareness and collecting funds, and the 5 of us for creating awareness and finding creative ways to make a buck.

I get to go home tomorrow to my comfy airmatress and wash the grease out of my hair. For this event, most people would be stoked. Most people couldn’t do what we’ve done for 4 days now, for a single night. Tim made the comment last night that is he didn’t have the school commitment, he would do this for the rest of the semester to continue raising money and awareness, and the 4 of us couldn’t have agreed more. I can’t wrap my head around going home again to my “normal” life. We have had a relatively stable and warm shelter and extremely full bellies all week. Far too many people do not get the support and opportunities we have had while living “homeless”. I really wish the people on our campus who have brought us dinner and hot chocolate would act the same when they see a real homeless person on the street. It felt amazing when 2 girls we didn’t know came and offered to buy Kathleen and I tea or hot chocolate. Think of the impact that would make on someone on the street in Lethbridge. it just takes a bit of compassion and recognition to make someone in a tough spot feel really good!!

Anyways, I’m going head back out and try to wrap my head around the closing of this week.

Ky

Ps to Derreks mom. Thanks for your support and kind words! it’s awsome that you’ve been watching our week so closely and I hear you’re coming to town for a visit today

Last night was quite the show… and now our front door sports a beautiful new art display we like to call Angry Drunk Mans Blood. Perhaps afterwards we can preserve that frame of cardboard and sell it to some up and coming art collector and donate the proceeds!

But that’s old news and i’m sure you’ve already read all the details before. Anyways, it’s 10:30 and i feel like i could sleep standing here. Today was a long day, but it’s still going well. Over $6000 now… or so a little birdie told me. Despite the fatigue that seems to have set in on everybody tonight we’re still all in good spirits. The music today was fun and there we’re a lot more laughs.

We had some awesome visitors today! A nice family, an employee from woods homes, and a whole lot more. It’s really nice to see all the support that we are getting from the university and the Lethbridge community. This has been a great experience.

Anyways… thats a bout it, I hope that it doesn’t take too long to get the SU exec in tonight.  If i’m still as wiped out energetically as i am now i hope that we can just get into the hut and get some shut eye whenever this concert ends at the Zoo.

Peace!

So you’ve probably already heard about our little intoxicated friend  from last night, so I thought I would talk about something else.

Today in one of my smaller classes (16 people) the prof and the person sitting beside me both asked me if I was okay? I reminded them that I was doing the ‘5days thing’ and then they understood. I am so burnt out right now. I have some wicked sun/wind burn on my face and hands and am just generally tired, physically and mentally.

I thought it was pretty interesting that my prof and some other student that I only know through that class, could both recognize that there was something off about me, something was out of wack. I thought that was interesting because until then I didn’t think I really looked that haggard (apparently yes, I do) and also I didn’t think that people I barely know would notice that there was something wrong with me. Buuuut, anyhu, that’s about all I have to say for tongiht.

Right now there is a concert going on upstairs so I think I’m going to go there for a bit, and the the ULSU is staying with us tonight in out fortress.

Keep on Keepin’ on!

Kathleen

So first thing first…. a unique event just happen…here is the just of it.

Derrek- (arives to the shelter to tuck himself in for the night exclaims in stern question) Is that blood on the door?

Everyone- Bloood? ummmmm hmmm…???? There was a guy here.

Bloddy face guy- (appears for the darkness)

So of course you could imagine it all went down hill from there, well for a bit at least. Of course the guy was intoxicated, and wanted in the house well everyone was tucked in there bags, and  blood all over his face. I didnt think that seemed liket the best idea….. so of course I politely said no.

He quicky became verbally agressive, but benith the drunken slllleeerrss and the ignorance I could tell that this would not be a good situation for all parties involved if my pride was in the way. The insults were yelled across campus, as I held back fro chuckling as he wrongfully screemed in anger of our cause and reason. Anyway security was there to handle the situaton before it got to out of control, so nothing to fear anyone. From this I take a lesson of security, that knowing your safe feeling that “theres no place like home” sensation.

Anyway were still surviving.

The rest of the day was surprisingly better. We raised a lot of money and I think were going to top it tomorrow, however not near our goal, so don’t stop donating. Talk tomorrow…. Its way past my bedtime.

Derrek

Tomorrow I have a personal goal to raise $500 in donations. Thank you everyone for your support. Please push till the end every bit counts.