Volunteers to spend a chilly night outdoors for a good cause

CTV’s Shaun Vardon has more on the 24-hour challenge for Operation Come Home, an organization helping support homeless youth.

With Ottawa in the grip of chilly winter weather, 30 staff, volunteers and friends of Operation Come Home spent the night sleeping outside to raise $30,000 to support homeless and street-involved youth.

The group is spending 24 hours camping out at the corner of Bank and Gloucester streets during the 24 Hours of Homelessness event. Their goal is two parts: to decrease the stigma many people face when homeless and to support programs that focus on housing, education, employment and reuniting youth with their families or guardians.

The event started at 2 p.m. Thursday and will end at 2 p.m. Friday. Executive director John Heckbert says spirits were high as they started off facing a wind chill around -20.

“If you are cold and you are outdoors, it does not ever get better, it just continues to get worse and that’s one thing this event drives home,” Heckbert said.

Idris Isse, a client at Operation Come Home, used to spend his days moving between up to eight agencies, shelters and drop-ins to keep warm and fed on a cold day. Today, he has a home, a job and is putting his life back together thanks to the programs and support offered by Operation Come Home. He came out to support the organization that has given him so much

“It’s very cold. I can’t imagine and, you know, I always made sure I was at the shelter. It was always a spot of anxiety, or I would run to the church,” Isse said.

“That’s no way for anyone to live. Treat people how you want to be treated, you would not want to live like that you know.”

Isse says Operation Come Home helped.

“When I was homeless, they gave me food, they helped me get the shelter placement, they helped me get when I was sick, they helped me get to the hospital when I needed a dentist or doctor, they helped me get a doctor,” Isse said. “The only reason I’m in my place now is because of them.”

The annual 24 Hours of Homelessness fundraiser supports hundreds of street-involved youth by laying out a path to success, focusing on housing, education, employment and reuniting youth with their families or guardians. If you would like to support Operation Come Home and its programming, you can donate by going to their website.

This story will be updated.