Humanity for the Homeless – How this Group of Grade 12 Students are Fighting Homelessness

Megan Henwood, Jan 14 2020

Left to Right: Ken Sequeira, Braden Regular, Emma Hayes, Vrushin Bhatt, Kisa Storey, Emily Wheaton.

A group of students are doing something a bit different to make an impact on the community this winter.

Humanity for the Homeless started as a group project in Mr. DeVito's English 121 class, with the aim of educating the public on homelessness.

"Our goal is to raise awareness about the homeless community by giving them a voice and breaking the stigma around homelessness." They say on a social media post.

Humanity for the Homeless social media outlets.

The group works in a three-tier system. First, they head out to local shelters such as Harvest House Atlantic. They interact with employees, volunteers, and those staying there in order to learn more about their situation and experiences. Then, they take what they've learned and use it to educate the community on what homelessness is really like. After that, they take those same learnings and apply them to find solutions.

In December, Humanity for the Homeless ran a fundraiser and was able to donate over $1,000 worth of goods to Harvest House Atlantic before the Christmas break. But now, they are focusing on finding long term solutions to help the homeless population.

The group is made up of 5 students - Vrushin Bhatt, Emma Hayes, Braden Regular, Ken Sequeira, and Kisa Storey. They were inspired to take on this project by the Trojans in Action group, and with the cold winter season coming up, the housing crisis became more visible.