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Vanier donates ‘swag bags’ for homeless

Christian Action Project sees students put together hygiene bags filled with toiletries, variety of items for those in need
Vanier donation
Vanier students show off their ‘swag bags’ they donated to Jason Gauthier, aka the Street Cuts Barber.
A Vanier Collegiate class project with an interesting twist will aim to help local homeless people – and they’re going through a rather unique avenue to do so.

Students in teacher Karen Jordan’s Christian Studies class decided to use their Christian Action Plan to put together special hygiene bags filled with various sundries designed to make life better for those in need. That’s not necessarily a unique idea, but the way they’re getting the bags to their intended targets is.

The class chose to donate the bags to Jason Gauthier, also known as the Street Cuts Barber, so he can give them to his clients when he holds his regular free haircut events for the homeless.

“We decided that we really liked what he was doing and we wanted to help him carry out his cause,” Jordan said. “So, throughout the whole year, so far they’ve been collecting donations from businesses in the city, and this is what it resulted in.”

The project saw students compile the bags – which include toothpaste and toothbrushes, socks, deodorant, floss and various other items – by seeking donations from businesses throughout the city.

“They conquered a lot of fears of going to different businesses in person and shaking some hands, calling on the phone to a lot of businesses, and the support we got from the community was very overwhelming,” Jordan said. “They went above and beyond to help us out and see what they could do.”

The end result was 100 bags filled with products, as well as two massive boxes of leftovers so Gauthier can continue things once the current run of bags is complete. And, as you can imagine, he plans to make sure that happens.

“I love this, honestly this came out of the blue and I really appreciate Karen and all the kids, they’ve been working on it since September and it’s such an amazing thing,” Gauthier said. “We hold events and cut hair for the less fortunate and this is going to go to help those guys.”

The swag bags will make their debut at Street Cuts Barber’s hair cut event at Victory Church as well as one Gauthier plans to hold at Carmichael Outreach in Regina.

Seeing the project come to fruition with such impressive results has Jordan hoping to see more in the future.

“We didn’t know what it was going to look like at first, and some of the kids thought it would be too difficult to do, that we couldn’t pull it off,” Jordan said. “But I’ve never seen such a passion for a project; once I gave control to them and said ‘what are you going to do, how are you going to help the community,’ they really went above and beyond in making it happen.

“I can’t tell you enough how proud I am of them. It really brings a passion to teaching when you get this type of students who are so passionate about giving back… it’s pretty amazing that we can live out our faith and help people in the community while showing students that it’s all about being a good person.”

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