First Nations University students donating clothes to Prince Albert's homeless community. (Nolan Kowal/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Helping Others

First Nation University students in P.A. donate thousands of pieces of clothing to less fortunate

Oct 18, 2023 | 5:00 PM

Many of Prince Albert’s homeless community and those struggling financially will have warm clothing for the upcoming winter thanks to a group of students from the First Nations University.

On Wednesday, around 25 students handed out clothing that they had brought from home and received from other people. The group also handed out food and drinks.

The idea came from teacher Cassie Stefanski who challenged her Indigenous Social Works class to collect around 300 pieces of clothes.

According to Meagan Nolan, one of Stefanski’s students, they ended up destroying that goal.

“There are thousands of pieces of clothing from all our classmates, we all came pretty much with our own carload of stuff,” she said.

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It was a good thing they brought a lot of clothing as around 60 people took advantage of the class’s generosity in just the first hour. For Nolan, it wasn’t a surprise as it’s obvious there’s a homeless crisis in the community.

“I come to school, and I see people sleeping on their tarps and it’s just horrible.”

In her opinion, the city doesn’t have enough services.

During the winter, the only spot for the homeless to go during the night is the YWCA’s Stepping Stones Shelter. They, along with the City of Prince Albert, are working on setting up a permanent shelter.

Despite being in a less-than-ideal situation, Stefanski explained a lot of the people they helped had a smile on their faces.

“We’ve had some very good interactions with the community, everybody is very grateful and thankful.”

This is the first time Stefanski has brought this idea to her class. Last year, her students collected donations which were given out to several different organizations.

-With files from Nolan Kowal

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow