Students at the Richard Ivey School of Business will camp out on campus for five days without food, cash or a roof over their heads to raise money for the homeless.
With only a cardboard box for shelter and a sleeping bag and pillow each, Daniel Sliwin, Noah Goldstein and Dylan Haggart – all Honours undergraduate (HBA) students at Ivey Business School – will brave the elements and live outside the University Community Centre at The University of Western Ontario March 15-20 to experience life on the streets.
During that time they’ll survive on donated food and can only enter campus buildings to attend classes or write exams unless temperatures plunge low enough to put their health at risk. They’ll also collect donations for Street Connection, a London-based non-profit organization that provides a drop-in centre and meals for homeless youth.
A fourth-year HBA student, Nicole Clara, will also help with the fundraiser but will not be camping out.
The initiative is part of a nationwide campaign, “5 Days for the Homeless”, in which students at universities give up most basic amenities and live outside on campus for 120 hours to raise awareness and money for the homeless. It was launched by business students at the University of Alberta in 2005 to give back to the community and show that businesses and business students are sensitive to community issues.
“As students, we’re all pretty privileged and sometimes we forget that not everyone is as privileged as we are. This will give us a taste of what some people go through,” said Clara. “We want to show that we are willing to help people in our community and raise awareness of some of the community work done at Ivey.”
Carol Stephenson, Dean, Ivey Business School, said the School is fully supporting the initiative.
“We are so proud that the students have chosen to take on this cause and we will back their efforts 100 per cent. Homelessness is a big problem in Canada, but it’s not always highly visible so raising awareness of this chronic problem is critical,” said Stephenson. “At Ivey, our mission is to develop business leaders who contribute to the communities in which they operate so I’m pleased to see this mission is being taken to heart.”
Molson Canada, through its community investment fund, the Molson Donations Fund, is also supporting London’s campaign.
For more information on the 5 Days campaign visit https://www.5days.ca/.