Northern Ontario Road Trip

In the winter of 2021, I had handed out hundreds of bundles throughout Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston and I wanted to go to different communities to start to reach different people. I decided that I wanted to go on a road trip through northern Ontario to some rural, Indigenous communities and hand out bundles there.

So in March, I set out and travelled 2405km through Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa, Cochrane, Timmins, and North Bay in three days and handed out 264 bundles! I handed out bundles in several shelters and throughout the streets. It was truly an eye-opening experience to see these communities, meet some of the people, and hear some stories about alcohol and drug abuse and their experiences living on the streets.

Each day, we travelled to the next town, packed bundles in our hotel room and then set off to hand them out - then we got back on the road and repeated that each day. It was a very busy trip but so worth it. It was great to reach new people and it has showed me how dire the homelessness situation is in the northern communities. These communities need immediate support from the government to help get people off the street and into safe housing.

I am very grateful for my experience in the communities but one day I hope to return and help make more of an impact!

Dropping of bundles to a women’s shelter in Sault Ste. Marie!