A first-year environmental studies student at York University is working to spread warmth to Toronto’s homeless community. Krislynne Agullion, together with her friend Pauline Valencia (a paramedic student at Humber College), has launched a charity that will supply new winter clothing and essential goods to the city’s less fortunate.
Love Supply Drive will collect donations of warm clothing, including coats/jackets, gloves, scarves, hats and boots, as well as monetary donations that will be used to purchase toiletries and essential items, such as face and nose coverings, reusable water bottles, hand cream and more. Funds can be donated through a Go Fund Me page set up to support the charity.
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- Items to consider donating
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- Donations will be placed in individual bags
The two friends started the initiative to help make a positive change on Toronto’s streets, after they noticed an increasing need for supplies. That need, they suggest, will only increase as temperatures drop and while the city remains in a provincially mandated lockdown enacted to curb the rise of COVID-19 cases.
“We started the Love Supply Drive because of the worsening state of the homeless folks downtown due to the pandemic,” said Agullion. “Everyone is affected right now with this current situation, but it especially affects the homeless due to shelter issues.”
Because of the COVID-19 virus, she said, it has become more challenging for those in the homeless community to find shelter, which has led to many marginalized community members setting up camps in parks, such as Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park.
“We are now starting to move into the winter season in Toronto, and we want to contribute anything we are able to, in order to provide some warmth and essential items to our homeless folks,” said Agullion. “Giving back to the community and taking care of other people is what we want to accomplish with this project.
Donations will be accepted until Dec. 21 and the team will distribute care packages Dec. 23 and 24.
Those interested in donating clothing, or volunteering to help the charity, should contact lovesupplydrive@gmail.com.
By Ashley Goodfellow Craig, deputy editor, YFile