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Mayor Katz to visit 'homeless' students

From left: Caitlan Thompson, Emina Tankovic and Kayla Wai are raising awareness about the homeless.

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From left: Caitlan Thompson, Emina Tankovic and Kayla Wai are raising awareness about the homeless. (PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Mayor Sam Katz will visit five university students who are living without a roof over their head to simulate what it’s like to be homeless on city streets.

Katz will meet with students at their base outside Drake Centre at the University of Manitoba at 5 p.m. today to present a cheque for the Five Days for the Homeless fundraising campaign.

Students Kayla Wai, Caitlin Thomp­son, Emina Tankovic, Mike Gould and Zachary Derksen arrived at their "home" outside the University Centre Sunday evening armed with nothing more than a sleeping bag and a pillow for the next 120 hours.

The grassroots charity raises awareness and money for the homeless. The event was first held in Winnipeg in 2009 and University of Manitoba students then raised over $13,000 for Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY), an organization in downtown Winnipeg that works with disadvantaged, at-risk youth.

The simulation of living as home­less people includes subsisting on donations of food and drink, wearing the same clothing — they can add or remove layers as required — and not showering until the five days is up Fri­day evening.

To illustrate the difficulty in get­ting off the homeless treadmill, the homeless five will also be given mock job interviews on Thursday.


 

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