Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

ENDING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS

A Way Home Kamloops sets significant fundraising goal for 2021 Camp Out

Oct 27, 2021 | 4:11 PM

KAMLOOPS — It started as a simple idea: what if we gave members of the community an opportunity to experience what it’s like to sleep outside, like so many people experiencing homelessness go through daily?

A Way Home Kamloops’ Campout to End Youth Homelessness turns five this year – so that organization has set an ambitious goal for this year’s event meant to honour the memory of founder Katherine McParland.

“This past year has gone by quite quickly, considering where we are now, and remembering Katherine,” Programs Managers Kira Cheeseborough says.

At this time last year, plans for the fourth annual Camp Out to End Youth Homelessness would have been taking shape. This year, like last, the event will be held virtually.

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“Camp Out to End Youth Homelessness is one of our biggest community engagement pieces,” A Way Home Kamloops Youth Projects Coordinator Daniel Galbraith explains. “It’s when folks from the community can not only get involved with A Way Home but get to experience one night out in the cold.”

Camp Out has become a signature fundraising event for A Way Home, which has raised more than $315,000 for the organization over the past four years. This year, they’re striving to fulfill an even more ambitious goal to help fund a new housing project planned for the Tranquille corridor.

“We set our Camp Out goal at $250,000 this year, primarily in the wake of having just recently announced Katherine’s Place,” Cheeseborough explains. “A portion of that will be put into reserve for programming that we’ll offer at Katherine’s Place in the future.”

Founder of A Way Home Kamloops Katherine McParland would have been at the forefront of planning 2020’s Camp Out. She died suddenly, just a week before the event was set to take place. This year’s event, set for Dec. 10, will be an opportunity for the community and A Way Home staff to commemorate her work.

“When you think of A Way Home Kamloops, and you think of Camp Out, you can’t not think of Katherine, right?” Cheeseborough recounts.

“Hearing Katherine speak was a huge part of [the Camp Out],” Galbraith says. “I think that’s going to be what people miss most. They are definitely going to get that youth speech piece, and I think another part is we’re all going to speak [on behalf of] Katherine.”

To help support A Way Home, keep an eye out for donation boxes throughout the community. You can also reach out through AWayHomeKamloops.com to donate or register as a camper.