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Lac La Biche Social Work students raise money for the homeless

Portage College students spin for awareness as Social Work Week draws to a close.

To mark the end of the annual Social Work Week, a group of second year Portage College Community Social Work (CSW) students organized a Spin-A-Thon to raise money for the community's Homeless Reduction Task Force. The college students spent last Friday night pedaling stationary cycles at the Bold Center.

Homelessness is a big problem in Lac La Biche, say the students, who have researched the issue and gathered information from the task force's studies. The students say comparable communities in the region have far less people identified as homeless.

“That is the discrepancy that we are facing in Lac La Biche, and we are trying to deal with it,” says CSW student, Austin Oltmanns. “When you have such a large population (identifying as homeless) like that, you need to start focusing less on band-aid solutions, and more on long term solutions, and that’s what the Homeless Task Force Initiative is for.”

The Spin-A-Thon was held from 6 to 9 pm, and raised $500.

The community's task force on homelessness was started in 2017 and includes a cross section of board members from business, government, local agencies and the college.



 
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