About a dozen area residents near Brantford are braving the cold nights all for a good cause.
Sunday evening will be their third straight night sleeping outside at a campsite in Paris, Ont., all while raising money for local charities that help the homeless population.
If it was summertime, sleeping outside in a tent would be okay, but in the middle of winter it can be a little chilly.
“Cold, very cold. I was shivering, my feet were aching, just because of the wind, the cold just got into me,” Mike Taylor said.
About a dozen people at Paris Spring Park all took part, sleeping outside for three nights all for charity.
This is not the first time sisters Ruth Thrasher and Susan Campbell have taken part.
“It’s cold with the breeze but you know, you get used to it. You do what you can, the fire is here, you sit around the fire. Everybody does what they can just to stay warm,” Campbell said.
“I’m probably one of the older ones here, but I make sure I keep myself warm. It’s kind of hard to but you use a lot of those little hand warmers and toe warmers and hot water bottles and anything you can find to keep warm,” Thrasher said.
While some chose to sleep in tents, others were glamping it up a little.
“It’s cozy, I got a fireplace and insulation so, it’s got a little bit of an R rating, so it was warm. I was better off than most others out here,” Rick West said.
This is the third year residents at Paris Springs Park have slept out in the cold.
The idea is simple: sleep outside for three nights in the middle of winter and raise money for those who have no choice but to sleep outside every night.
“Basically we started it because, we do well here at Paris Springs and the campers wanted to give back to the community, and this is how we are doing it, and I hope it’s helping out,” Randy Knowles from Paris Springs Park said.
These residents say this shows how one small community can support another.
“The homelessness is a serious issue, so we just want to do what we can to help out no matter what,” Campbell said.
Over the past few years they have raised $22,000 thousand for charity. This year the goal is to raise $10,000.
All that money will stay in the Brantford area and be split between five local charities.
