North Peace Secondary School students aiming to help the homeless

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A group of four students from North Peace Secondary School are stepping up to help the homeless in the Fort St. John area.

Ronin Medcalfe, Ben Kopp, Caige Quinn and Tyrus Pottinger are all in the Senior Alternate program at NPSS and are taking or took Personal and Social Development,

Kopp says a situation opened his eyes to the needs of the homeless with the help of his mom.

“My mom works security and she removes a lot of homeless people from banks. One day, she met this guy there and she had to remove him from the bank but it was really cold outside. She felt bad for him and called me and said ‘Do you have anything you can give him?’ and I said ‘Yeah, I can go find a hoodie, blanket or something’.”

He says the situation then prompted him to speak to his teacher, Brenda Birley about helping those less fortunate.

Medcalfe specifically wrote a letter to Fort St. John Council requesting that the city help in providing lockers for the homeless.

“The homeless really don’t have anywhere to put their stuff that they need so I figured if I write a letter asking them to put up lockers, they would have a nice place to put their stuff. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, you’re still human and everyone needs help.”

Aside from the request for lockers, the students also have collected items for survival kits. So far, they have collected blankets, clothes and backpacks.

Birley says the goal for the lockers is to have something ready to go by the time snow falls.

“We’re looking at a end date of being in the winter. This project is one that is going to continue on in September. In September, we will put on a real push.”

The City of Fort St. John wants to meet with the group and both sides are planning to meet in September to discuss logistics and other details.