11th Annual 24 Hours for the Unhoused

On November 11, in an attempt, albeit briefly, to experience what some less lucky people in our community live through on a daily basis, a group of 30 Selwyn House School students and teachers, slept outside, in the cold and in the snow in our school yard. This was the 11th year where Selwyn House School participated in 24 Hours for the Unhoused.

 

This year's iteration of the event involved panhandling on the corner of Sherbrooke and Victoria in Westmount, collecting socks for Stepping Up, a West Island non profit organization who has collected over 75 000 pairs of socks in the last 11 years, making 760 sandwiches for Bread and Beyond, who then gives to local food banks and homeless shelters and then ending the workshops with some hot dogs and hot chocolate courtesy of Dans La Rue. 

 

Over and above helping these organizations, we Selwyn House School, the students and the teachers are the real winners. A taste of hardship, a struggle sleeping in the cold and a reality check the next full day at school and being hungry and exhausted. It is in these moments of discomfort where we get to more fully experience life, where our senses are heightened and our awareness of other peoples' realities sinks in. Empathy, compassion and awareness are thus fostered and imbibed. 

 

In this, his second year participating, one student recently reflected on his experience last year and offered the following observation: "The hardest thing for me was the cold, because I couldn’t fall asleep and it made me very tired the next day. It made me very sad, because I realized that what I went through was only for one night, but someone who actually lacks a house does this long term and even in the harsh winters of Montreal."

 

Thank you to Ms. Corbie, Ms. Hamilton, Mr. Geisterfer, Mr. Giffin for their involved participation in the evening. - Mr. Grier, Main organizer and Senior School Science teacher


See more photos here.