Six U of M students will spend five nights outside as part of the annual 5 Days for the Homeless event to raise funds for a charity supporting homeless and at-risk youth. (HANDOUT)
Six University of Manitoba students are trading in their comfy beds for tents and concrete this week.
For five nights, the students will sleep outside to raise awareness and donations for local charity Resource Assistance for Youth Inc. (RaY).
The seventh annual 5 Days for the Homeless event will see four Asper School of Business students, and two Faculty of Arts students, join 26 Canadian universities in participating in the campaign, which begins today.
Students Dale Camuyong, Deanna Mirlycourtois, Al Turnbull, Alannah Matte, Riaz Mahmood, and Karli Kirkpatrick will live outside on the U of M’s Fort Garry campus for five nights, while still fulfilling their duties as students. They will not be able to shower or purchase any meals, and must fulfill all their regular student duties as the campaign attempts to raise this year’s goal of $20,000.
RaY is a non-profit street-level agency working with street-entrenched and homeless youth up to the age of 29.
Several campaign events are planned to help them reach that goal, including a silent auction, bake sale, and social events.
To date, the campaign has raised over $1,212,000 for charitable organizations across the country.
