Former homeless men suiting up for charity

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This article was published 16/01/2017 (3341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Derek Zoolander would be jealous.

Six formerly homeless men were fitted for business suits Monday and in about two weeks will be strutting down a runway in a fashion show fundraiser.

In about two weeks, the six men — all former or current clients of Main Street Project — will model their new threads in front of a corporate crowd to raise $5,000 for the 24-hour drop-in centre that serves individuals experiencing homelessness and substance addiction.

The men get to keep the suits after they hit the catwalk at The Runway to Change, a sold-out fundraising gala at the Fort Garry Hotel on Feb. 2. But that’s not why they’re doing it. They’re acting out some goodwill for the place that helps them, they said.

“It’s different,” Marvin Reid chuckled after his fitting for a grey suit with a black shirt. “It’s an unusual experience for a homeless person, I imagine.”

Andy Meekis, another client at Main Stay, said he already had some publicity for an act of generosity a week ago. A homeless man who slept on the streets for years, Meekis paid his change in fortunes forward, cashing in an unexpected tax refund cheque and buying $300 worth of winter gear for his buddies still on the streets.

“I can’t work, otherwise I wouldn’t be in this situation,” said Meekis, explaining he was disabled after a car accident which left him penniless. “I got runned over.”

Now that he has a bed to sleep in and a disability pension, Meekis wanted to help out. He also gave away most of his personal clothes in the gesture last week. “I only got two pairs of pants and a couple of T-shirts left,” he said.

As for the show? “First time ever I did this. It’s kind of exciting,” he smiled.

Meekis also got a grey suit.

Meekis, Reid and most of the others are clients at the Main Street Project transition housing unit, the Main Stay, which provides 34 beds in a transitional housing unit on Main Street and another 42 beds at the nearby Bell Hotel.

Phil Goss, a former client and now an employee at Main Street said like the others he’s also in grey. “Not something I’d look at normally,” he smiled.

As for the show: “I’m a bit of an actor,” Goss said.

The event is the brain child of two Red River Creative Communications students, Madelaine Lapointe and Ashley Tokaruk, who designed a website, organized the drive, lined up sponsors and talked the men into the fashion show as part of a class project.

The two students also organized a drive this winter that has brought in 300 winter jackets, gloves, scarves and toques for the centre to distribute to the homeless since September.

The students’ efforts are doing a lot of good, Main Street Project volunteer Carla Chornoby said.

“What it means to Main Street Project is this fundraising event is going to enable us to provide more services for our clients,” Chornoby said.

When the students first approached the centre, Chornoby said staff weren’t immediately sold on the idea. “I was wondering how the clients would react, how are they going to react to wearing suits but this group is just loving it. They can’t wait to be part of a fashion show,” Chornoby said. 

Some of the men pointed to their own jackets and said they’d been among the clients who benefited from the winter gear drive the students had already organized.

The soon-to-be models were outfitted free of charge at EPH Apparel on Garry Street as part of the students’ project.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca