5 Days for the Homeless

Let the "Five Days" begin! Come find us between the hours of 10pm and 8am: Sunday Night - In front of the Business Building Monday Night - In front of the Business Building Tuesday Night - In front of ETLC WednesdayNight - In front of SUB Thursday Night - In front of the Business Building During the day we will be attending classes but home base will be the JDC Office of the 2nd floor of the business building at the University of Alberta. Stop by anytime as we will definitely be excited to have your company. **Check us out on GlobalTVEdmonton** http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/video/index.html?releasePID=702mHaHJalU6ZbmCQz16sfY7xmxiQaVR   *Check out our promotional video* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaIg_izQius

"What do you take for granted?"

Your bed? Your wardrobe? Your warm dinner?

Imagine a world without any of these things. This is a reality for thousands of youth across Canada and the sad thing is that it is easy to ignore the issue. Five Days for the Homeless challenges each and every single one of us to ask ourselves "What do you take for granted?". 

By touring the website you will be able to learn about the campaign's humble beginnings at the University of Alberta by a group of business students. You will be able to learn about the rules of the campaign which are listed below. And as you learn about the campaign and the issues, and as you read our blogs throughout the week of March 14th-19th 2010, I would encourage you to ask yourself that question.

Over the course of our five day journey, it is not our goal to simulate homelessness but instead to try to understand the severity of the issue. We will never truly know what it means to be homeless but we can reach out to our friends, our family, and our community and ask them to consider the thousands of lives that can be saved if only we begin challenging ourselves to give.

Five days for the Homeless is unique because of how quickly it has grown and the impact that it has annually across Canada. In only five years, the campaign has gone from a one city and three thousand dollar campaign to a movement that stretches across twenty-one post secondary campuses and last year raised over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for youth at risk.

Over the next couple weeks, we challenge you to think about someone you have seen, walked past, talked to that could benefit from a warm shower, a hot meal, or a bed to sleep on, and ask yourself "What do I take for granted?"

Thank you,

Nathan Petersen, Edmonton Local Chair

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Campaign Rules

During the five day campaign, students from across the country will be making personal sacrifices to make their community a better place. Students will forgo their comforts and live outside on campus for five full days.

Participants will:

1. Remain on campus for five days. The campaign begins 5PM Sunday March 14th 2010 and ends 5PM Friday March 19th 2010.

2. Have no income. 100% of the funds donated to participants are passed on to each regions respective charity cause.

3. Have no food or drinks. Food can only be received through direct donations, and all non perishable food must be held and donated.

4. Have only a pillow and a sleeping bag. These items can be exchanged for an emergency meal.

5. Have no access to showers, or facilities to which their student status would usually grant them access. Washrooms can only be accessed when campus buildings are open.

6. Sleep outside. The only exception is if inclement weather becomes a health risk.

7. Attend all classes. Participants will complete all academic responsibilities, including student organizations and teaching positions.

8. Avoid personal communication media. Participants will be expected to not use cell phone or online social networking websites (Facebook, etc) during the Five Days campaign except for the purposes of promoting the campaign. Each region is required to have at least one cell phone for safety purposes.

9. Write about their experiences. Participants’ experiences will be posted on an online blog available on www.5days.ca.