U of C students learn about challenges of homelessness

Instead of the glamour of going south for reading week, a group of university students are spending it learning about the challenges of homelessness.

The group will be downtown for four days exploring the complex challenges of homelessness by volunteering at the Mustard Seed, doing site visits and participating in ‘a day in the life’ activities.

One of the volunteers, Danielle Tougas, said it’s all about having a better understanding about the problem in our city.

“We just actually finished doing an exercise talking about what it’s like to be a university student and what it means, is that we don’t often get a chance to interact with people that are very different from us or that have had different experiences, so I think it’s a good opportunity to learn a little bit about what other people’s lives are like,” she said.

The group includes students from multiple disciplines including everything from social studies to psychology to nursing.

“It’s good to have an appropriate understanding of homelessness, if you’re trying to volunteer or if you want to change policies, it’s really important to actually know what you’re talking about,” she said.