‘Very isolating’: U of R students take part in 5 Days for the Homeless campaign

WATCH: A group of University of Regina students are taking part in the ‘5 Days for the Homeless’ fundraiser. Hallee Mandryk has the details.

Regina is one of many Canadian cities seeing a growing number of unhoused people, and many passionate individuals are looking for ways to help.

For Noah Rainbow and Silas Funk, they’ve taken it one step further- volunteering to spend five days and five nights outside on the U of R campus.

“It definitely opened my eyes to what people are experiencing in much rougher times of the year where it’s a lot colder. It could be snowing. It could be blizzarding, and so we’re even pretty lucky that we’ve been able to have the weather that we’ve had this week, even though it’s still pretty cold,” Rainbow said.

Funk echoed Rainbow’s statement, noting that he had no idea what it was genuinely like.

“Like, we can imagine what it’s like to sleep outside in -30 C without things, but you don’t know what it’s like until you’re actually doing it. So I think just getting that first hand experience is really eye opening,” he said.

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The Five Days for the Homeless campaign has been an annual tradition for the University of Regina’s Hill Business Students' Society (BSS). They raise both funds and awareness for Carmichael Outreach.

In addition to the donations collected by Rainbow and Funk, the Hill BSS hosts several fundraising events throughout the week. They have an annual goal of $25,000, which goes a long way according to those at the shelter.

“It goes to everything that we can offer. So whether it be the food security program that we have, our harm reduction, our boutique. So the shower, laundry programs, our baby programs where we offer diapers, formula, milk, those kind of things, anything that would need to be topped up,” Chrysta Garner, development coordinator with Carmichael Outreach said

Garner added that simply creating a conversation is also incredibly important.

“It’s [the housing crisis] an epidemic right now....everybody is seeing this right now as a crisis, and we need to address it. And what better way to address it than having students sit out in front of the university where they’re seeing thousands upon thousands of people, and then those thousands upon thousands of people then relay it back to the people that they know ... and that’s how it all works, this whole chain works,” Garner said.

While the temperatures are up from February’s extreme cold snap, it is still cold in the Queen City, particularly in the evenings. This is something Rainbow and Funk have struggled with, particularly when the duo are entirely reliant on the donations of others.

“The first day, we had no physical donations, so sleeping was impossible. We were sleeping in snow that was melting because of our body heat and then seeping into our clothes and then freezing again. So it was absolutely impossible to sleep without having any physical donations like sleeping bags or blankets,” Funk said.

By the second day, the pair received some physical donations, which have gone a long way during the cold March evenings. For Funk, it has highlighted the importance of donations for those who are without shelter, to stay warm in the evening.

“I’m so much more aware of how hard it actually is every single day to be living out here. And I couldn’t imagine having to do this every single day. We’ve been living rather well with having all our blankets and sleeping bags and stuff, but people don’t have access to these things,” Funk said.

While the duo stay together for most of the five days, they still each go to class, often leaving the other alone for the duration of the class. Both of the participants agreed that the time spent alone is particularly challenging.

“It feels very isolating when you’re alone out here, and people walking by and maybe not having conversations. That is definitely, one of the toughest parts,” Rainbow said.

“It’s super weird because some people just pull out their phone when they see us and just lock in on their phone and walk right past, or they’ll try their best to actually avoid even looking at us...they don’t want to say hi, it’s weird. They treat you kind of like a ghost and that you don’t actually exist. And when you’re alone, it’s just a strange feeling having to sit there and watch everyone walk right on by and not really care,” Funk said

The Five Days Campaign is a national one, with many institutions across Canada taking part. The U of R has been participating for over 15 years.

“It’s all about starting the conversation, obviously poverty is not an easy conversation to have. It’s a hard conversation. It can be uncomfortable to have. And this campaign is really about being able to start that conversation at all different universities across Canada,” Rainbow said.

Both students shared that they’re looking forward to having a roof over their head again after the five days are done, and they certainly won’t be taking it for granted.

“I’m super lucky to be able to go home and after this, I’ll be able to hopefully keep reflecting on this experience, and be able to do that at home. It’s going to be hard to know that there’s a lot of people in Regina, that don’t get to do that. They do this every day. This is their life. They experience this on a regular basis.” Rainbow said.