Sara Morris says she’s never experienced homelessness and likely never will.
However, she says, “I don’t want to turn a blind eye to what’s going on around the city I live in and around the territory I live in.”
That’s why the St. Patrick High School student became a youth ambassador for Raise the Roof, a national housing rights advocacy group, to raise money as part of its annual toque drive.
Morris says she learned about the youth-ambassador program through her school’s guidance counsellor.
“I really wanted to help and I really wanted to get involved,” she said. “When I found this program, it was great that I could do it in a way [where] the resources were provided so that I can help and really get active.”
Raise the Roof has held the toque drive annually since 1997, where winter hats are sold to raise funds for local partner organizations across the country devoted to homelessness prevention and affordable housing. The event has raised more than $8 million in its 25 years of existence.
“For us, the toque is a sign of solidarity for those experiencing homelessness,” says Christy Scott, a special-events co-ordinator with Raise the Roof.
Morris says $5 from each $15 toque sold will go to support Home Base, an organization that provides housing, food support, and other services to local youth.
This is the first time Raise the Roof has had a partner organization in the Northwest Territories.
Morris is hoping to get her whole school involved in this project: Her idea is to make teams out of each home room class who will compete to see who can raise the most funds, with a prize for the winning team. She is currently waiting for the school to approve her plan.
Projects like the toque drive are sorely needed in Yellowknife and across the country: “Especially since March 2020 and the pandemic, homelessness has just skyrocketed, and it’s become a super dangerous and persistent problem,” says Scott.
She cites a 2016 study by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness that estimated that 235,000 people in Canada experience homelessness in a given year. However, this estimate likely doesn’t account for everyone who experiences homelessness, including those who are couch surfing and don’t use homeless shelters. “We can’t even get a full grasp on what the number even is,” says Scott.
She says projects like the toque drive are an opportunity “To give those agencies and frontline workers as much support as they can get.”
“They don’t have to do anything for it; They are doing everything they can doing their work.”
Home Base’s executive director, Tammy Roberts, says she’s waiting for the project to be formally approved before commenting.