If you didn’t have a home to sleep in tonight, where would you go and what would you do? These were the types of questions students at Elmira District Secondary School were forced to ask themselves as they spent one night sleeping outside to raise awareness for homelessness Apr. 7. In a project the school’s leadership group called ‘One Night Out’ the students, supervised by teacher David Vandenburg, spent the night sleeping on the lawn of the Elmira Pentecostal Church. Teachers chose the location because it was well-lit and close to facilities open 24 hours.
Not allowed to bring tents, the 15 students brought tarps, sleeping bags and all the cardboard they could collect to make a shanty town on Arthur Street.
“I wonder how many years it takes you to get good at this,” Vandenburg said as he taped together pieces of cardboard to sleep under. Having run the event two years in a row, Vandenburg’s question implied one may never get good at being homeless.
For many students, this was their first year participating in the project. Student Mikayla Stroeder, who slept outside last year as well, said she hesitated before joining the group again.
“I knew that it’s a really big challenge and it’s a struggle,” she said. “But then you just have to realize so many people go through this every single night.”
Student Mariah Martin wanted to make the experience as authentic as possible.
“You want to experience a night in the life of a homeless person, so you want to make it as real as you can,” she said.
Although the students chose a location close to the road, which put them out in the open to try to catch the attention of passing traffic, they said if they were really without a place to sleep, they would have chosen someplace different.
“Warmth and safety would be big concerns,” Stroeder said. “I would be constantly scared for my own personal safety.”
The students weren’t sure they would get much sleep in their makeshift cardboard constructions, but the unexpected upswing in temperatures and the timing of the event worked in their favour.
“Luckily tomorrow’s a PA day,” Martin said.
Unlike the homeless people they represented, the overtired students had the luxury of a day off to rest.
