Several Salmon Arm Secondary students will spend a night in a box to raise awareness of and funds for homeless Vancouver youth.
Members of the SAS Jackson Campus Leadership Team Carrie Fromme and Paige Saitz attended the April 11 council meeting to ask councillors for permission to sleep out at Peace Park on the night of May 19.
The event ties in with a Vancouver Covenant House fundraiser called Sleep Out:Student Edition, which in Salmon Arm, is expected to include anywhere from five to 20 students in its inaugural year, and one or two adults.
“Each person participating will raise $228 for the homeless youth in Vancouver,” reads the letter. “Then we will sleep outside in cardboard boxes to experience what it is like to be homeless.”
Mayor Nancy Cooper expressed some concerns about liability insurance and security on the city owned property. But chief financial officer Monica Dalziel assured Cooper the city would be covered.
Councillors were supportive of the students’ plans and approve the sleep-out request. Students will now advise the local RCMP detachment.