Ten community leaders will be seeing what it’s like to live on the streets of Saskatoon beginning Thursday and lasting for 36 hours.  The event is called the Sanctum Survivor Challenge, and it will push the participants, such as Mayor Charlie Clark, to experience various challenges that homeless people face in their every-day lives.

Katelyn Roberts, the Executive Director at Sanctum Care Group, says the participants will be paired in teams of two and given nothing but donated clothes and their cellphones for the purpose of updating the public on their daily challenges.

She says the homeless population doesn’t have a voice, so the platform of community leaders is used to increase awareness and raise understanding.

Roberts hopes the challenge gets people thinking about the obstacles that homeless people face such as opening a bank account without an ID and doing laundry with only one set of clothing.

She adds that the Survivor Challenge is an important fundraiser for Sanctum Care Group. Each participant has an online profile where people can donate to help them reach their goal of raising $20,000. The money raised will go towards the critical programming offered by SGC, such as the HIV Hospice and Transitional Care Home, Sanctum 1.5, which is Canada’s first HIV and high-risk Prenatal Home, two community-based programs; HART (HIV Aids Response Team) and PORT (Prenatal Outreach and Resource Teams), which operates across the province.

The participants are:

Cameron Choquette

Chris Guerette

Charlie Clark

Dr. Benjamin Leis

Sara Wheelwright

Fatima Coovadia

Tonya Gresty

Nelish Kavia

Marv Friesen

David Dube