One click away from changing your community

Today I want to talk about something that is very close to my heart. I am Pradeesha Gnanasekeran, a 2nd year nursing student attending Red Deer college. It took a single statement from one of my instructors to make this this day different for me and my community. This afternoon during class an instructor said, "Me as a nurse, would I be able to give you successful strategies on how to survive the cold if you were to be left outside for the whole night?",  and the predictable answer from my entire class was "no".  I started to think about how cold I was this morning, just trying to get to my car from my house. Then I started to think how the homeless in Red Deer are going to a survive a  brutal weather of -33°C tonight and many other nights to come. I wanted to do something but as a college student I can only do what I am capable of. After class I called John, and asked him if he was willing to go to Walmart and Value Village with me so I can buy some gloves, toques, jackets, blankets, heat packs, and snacks to distribute to the homeless community in Red Deer. He was more than willing to help, and offered to split the cost with me for buying these items.  We bought 13 Jackets, 10 pairs of gloves, 8 toques, 40 heat packs, 5 blankets, 20 pairs of socks and some snack. We made our first stop at the Safe harbour in downtown Red Deer, and the staff helped us distribute the items to the people who were there. One of the staff said to me "We will be closing in a few minutes and the people will move to the building next to ours and not every homeless person in Red Deer is able to find shelter tonight" While we were distributing the items I started to notice that it took less than 5 minutes for people to collect the items we brought into the room. People started to ask if there were more gloves, more socks, or more food. This broke my heart, because even with limiting one item for each person, we still had more than half the room with empty hands who were in need of items to meet their basic needs. Our second stop was at the Mustard seed in downtown Red Deer. The staff were so happy to help with the donations and told us "Our donation bin is almost empty and this is going to help the people here a lot".  John Bunyan, and english writer once said “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” I am starting this gofundme page to evoke some change in our community. Today I did not think I would be making this page before I left to distribute these items. However, after I got back home I realized that something like this can be continued and it takes a few people who are willing to help, to change someone's life. With your help, every week we will be able to distribute items that will facilitate the basic needs of the homeless people in Red Deer, I would be so grateful if you can donate just a small amount to support and change our community. "Your trash is a treasure to someone else" V.K. Nair, please message me if you live in Red Deer or Lacombe area, and are willing to donate any clothes, blankets, or other items that you may not be using anymore. 

"Together we can make change happen".