Volunteers live out of box to collect donations for Harvest House

A6

By Craig Babstock
Times & Transcript Staff

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By the time the oversized cardboard box was taken down in Champlain Place's parking lot early Saturday evening, Jennifer Marr had spent about 27 hours in or around it.

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VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCR

Trent Daigle, 7, donates his allowance from four weeks of saving to volunteer Heather Ferguson of Mission Possible at the Champlain Place parking lot on Saturday during a living in a cardboard box fundraiser for the Harvest House.

Marr is one of the participants in the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce's Mission Possible challenge that sees local business people given $100 and 30 days to make a difference in the community. Marr used hers to set up the large cardboard box near the main entrance of the mall and with the help of several other people, had people living in the box for 54 hours, from Thursday at lunchtime to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The idea was to raise awareness about homelessness and collect donations for Harvest House.

There were many positives about the event, including the $6,000 they collected by lunchtime on Saturday, the piles of winter coats people donated and the blankets that were dropped off. But the part Marr will remember most is the young homeless man who showed up Friday evening.

"He was in his early 20s and helped collect donations and he wanted to stay here for the night," said Marr. "We sent him to Harvest House so he could have a warm place to stay. It was the first time I've experienced something like that and it was really something."

Marr's husband Harley is on Harvest House's board so when she took up the Mission Possible challenge, he suggested doing something for the shelter. She decided to try to collect enough donations for 20 tanks of oil, approximately $14,000, to last through the winter.

Harvest House has seven properties and houses 70 to 80 people a night. It relies on oil, natural gas and electricity and the oil must be paid for with cash up front.

Harvest House executive director Cal Maskery, who spent many hours at the cardboard box over the three days, says last year they had four tanks of oil run out in the same week and it was expensive.

"It killed our budget for the whole year," he said on Saturday.

Harvest House still owes about $15,000 on its natural gas bill and about $3,500 on its electric bill, so Maskery said if the fund-raiser covers the oil bill for the winter, that's a huge help.

While $6,000 was donated up to noon on Saturday, Maskery said they've been contacted by groups that heard about the campaign and plan to help out, so he's confident the $14,000 goal will be reached over the next few weeks. He said if anyone wants to make non-cash donations to Harvest House, they could really use twin and double bed sheets, socks, coffee and whitener, and hygiene items such as deodorant, toothpaste, razors and the like.

The cardboard box had generator-powered lights, but no heat, and was manned overnight on Thursday and Friday by dedicated Harvest House employees. Shelter workers and married couple Danny and Savannah Gallant camped out the first night, while Harvest House communications director Erin Daniels and her husband Steve camped out the second night.

"Both couples said it was very, very cold," said Marr.