Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune

Last week, students across Canada took part in the seventh annual “5 Days For The Homeless,” a week-long event aimed at raising awareness and money for homeless youth. The initiative began at the University of Alberta’s business school in 2005 and has quickly spread to over 20 schools across Canada and one in the United States. This is the third year that students from McGill have participated.

At McGill, roughly 20 students took part, with about eight sleeping outside the Redpath Library each night of the event, which ran March 11-16. Other students chose to show their support by canvassing outside the Roddick Gates during the daytime. The McGill initiative collected around $8,600, roughly 86 per cent of their goal.

Students from the management faculties of McGill, Concordia, UQAM, and the University of Montreal, organized a joint opening ceremony. These students will forward all the funds they  raise to a local grassroots charity, Dans La Rue, that works with street kids and at-risk youth.

David Stein, media contact for the McGill chapter of 5 Days, described the sacrifices students were making to participate in the events.

“Students are expected to sleep outside during the night and balance academics … all while sacrificing many comforts, such as the right to a bed, financial resources, or electronic devices for a week,” Stein said in an email to the Tribune.

“It is an event that is on the rise due to the passion it evokes from students (and some professors/celebrities who sleep outside during the week) across the country,” Stein added.

Jennifer Williams, a U3 management student and partner coordinater of the event, explained that she originally became interested in the campaign  because of a personal connection. Her father was turned out of his house and became homeless when he was 13 years old.

“[My father] came from a really abusive household,” Williams said. “I know the struggles that he went through, so I know that when I look at people who are homeless I don’t think of them [as] being lazy-I know that there are multiple problems [involved].”

She emphasized that homelessness is a problem that garners relatively little attention compared to others.

After sleeping outside with few amenities, if any, participants said that the experience provided a new perspective on the issue of homelessness. Food, which participants can only accept by donation, proved an especially difficult problem for many.

“Friends on Monday will bring you sandwiches and hot chocolate, anything you could want,” Williams said. “But, by Thursday, they stop bringing you food. They stop remembering that you need food. So you actually start realizing that ‘I have this granola bar to eat today, and this is all I have.’ This is to teach you to not know where your next meal is coming from.”

“Most people bring us donuts and Timbits, so you get a sugar rush and then crash.” Williams added. “I know what it means to get a sandwich or fruit, something substantial.”

For all its positive impacts, however, the campaign is garnering some negative attention.

“Some people argue that us sleeping outside for five days is not helping and that we’re pretending like we’re trying to be them,” Reyhaneh Keshmiri, a U2 arts and science student who slept outside last year and canvassed for donations this year, said. “Yes, it is true that five days is not comparable at all, but we are still trying to raise money and giving [the funds] to local charities, which will help eventually.”