It isn’t much fun cooking and eating a hot dog in the pouring rain.
It isn’t very nice, either, heading to your cardboard box accommodations for the night and finding a puddle of rain at the entrance – a puddle that will work its way into the box when you’re trying to sleep.
Centre Wellington councillor Mary Lloyd was among the 30 or so people who braved the elements on Sept. 23 to live in “Shantytown” for a night to benefit the local youth group, The Door. She experienced both difficulties.
“It was not designed to be enjoyable, but it sure gave me an appreciation of what it’s like [to be homeless and at the mercy of the weather],” Lloyd said of her experience.
“I don’t like the feeling of being displaced. I also experienced how people respond to you when you’re out there collecting money.”
Lloyd added she had a sign with her to explain she was busking in downtown Fergus on Saturday to collect money for the youth group as part of the homeless experience, but, “Even with the explanation, I got some strange looks.”
She also noted being on the streets means isolation. She said at the Shantytown built in the camping area of the Fergus Sportsplex, people tended to stick with the people they knew.
Since she was spending the night there on her own, she said she could feel the isolation, and also wondered how bad it gets for people who are forced by circumstance to live on the street out of necessity.
Organizer Kelly Culp of Arthur said in an interview on Friday night about 50 people had registered to take part in the event. She noted this year the group was using a lot of tarps to help keep people drier than the year before. One volunteer noted in the 2010 event “The rain was coming down sideways.”
The Door is a youth club run as part of the Highlands Youth For Christ ministry based in Orangeville, but Culp said it has chapters in Grand Valley, Collingwood, Huntsville, Staynor and Erin.
Each year, volunteers travel to different countries to offer aid for two weeks. The last trip was to Haiti, and the one in 2012 will be to Costa Rica. Culp said to afford that kind of travel and accommodation costs money, and events like the one in Fergus help raise it so the youth can join the work effort. They made about $2,300 this year. The group also take trips to places like Toronto, where youths work for the Salvation Army, she said.
“We teach people how to help,” she said.
As well, The Door offers youths a place to meet, providing such things as table tennis, billiards and music lessons, among its many programs.
Culp said every one of the 50 people who signed up had earned pledges of $25 minimum. The previous year, only two had brought the minimum, which covers the cost of homeless style meals, which are definitely not gourmet.
Culp said, “It’s a good fundraiser and it’s a lot of fun. It gets kids to understand how people become homeless.”
She explained each participant is given a story about why they were forced to live on the streets, and they learn through that it is not always laziness or drinking or drugs that put people out of their homes.
“It’s not always … bad choices,” she said, explaining that sometimes, for teens, they might have “a house” but because of dysfunctional parents, it is not really “a home.”
On Saturday afternoon, the group had its final barbecue and most headed for home while a handful of volunteers gathered the last of the cardboard cartons that had served as shelters for the previous night.
But, she said, the group did not have as many people as it expected to attend this year, probably because it was wet and cold when the event began.
Lloyd also said that probably deterred a number of people who had registered. She said it was no picnic.
Culp added, “Next year, we’re going to try to pick a night without rain.”
But, she said, those who showed up “got an appreciation of the homeless cause.” She added about 90 per cent of those attending this year said they would be coming back to do it again next year.
On Monday morning, Lloyd said she still had a few aches and pains from the event. She noted some of those who spent the night with her had jobs they had to go to the next day, and she saluted them for making a contribution even though they had other commitments.
When asked if she would do it again, Lloyd didn’t hesitate.
“Yes,” she said.
