SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Angela Canning is helping the homeless ­ one survival kit at a time.

Angela Canning is stockpiling supplies to fill survival kits she distributes to people living on the streets. She and two other volunteers, Frances Riggs and Linda Smith, are in their third month of the project. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo

The executive assistant at Aurora College is entering her third month of delivering 25 survival packages to people who live on city streets. Around 70 homeless people will have received a kit by last weekend, said Canning.

"They (homeless people) don't have anything," she said. "On Sunday, when I'm sitting in my pyjamas in my warm house, I'm thinking where are they?"

Over the past three months she and two other volunteers have collected winter clothing, gloves, mittens, hats, sanitary wipes, matches, juice boxes, and other small food items, to fill backpacks they distribute. They also plan to make and distribute bannock.

Canning, who has lived in town all her life, said it's frightening to think about where homeless people go when the temperature drops.

Because of the volume of donations received, Canning has had to divert some of them to another charity.

"I don't have a lot of space, so I've been taking donated clothing to the Salvation Army," said Canning. "But I've been keeping gloves and hats, which we'll pack into the bags."

She started assembling the kits around August, in order to have the project well underway before the cold weather set in.

Frances Riggs, an administrative assistant at Aurora College, said she teamed up with Canning after a particular lunch date they had in September. Riggs said she was inspired by the idea, since she'd felt a void in her life after losing her father.

"When dad was alive I always looked after him," she said. "After he passed, I had a lost feeling like I had nothing to do."

She said her experience in residential school has left a soft spot in her heart for people living on the streets.

"That could have been me (on the street)," she said.

Riggs said distributing the kits to people is rewarding.

"When you see the smile on their face it's really nice," she said. "They are all so nice, and it's really nice to be able to give them a coffee or a muffin. Some of them get quite emotional."

Linda Smith, Canning's other helper, said she thinks it's a wonderful thing they are doing. Smith said she joined a mission to Kigali, Rwanda, in 2009, and after seeing the state of impoverished people in that country she became resolved to make a difference back home.

"Charity begins at home," she said. "Circumstances drove them onto the streets, so how do you give back?"

Since becoming involved she said she has felt "totally awesome," and encourages other people to do what they can to help.

"You bless someone else, but that blessing comes back," she said.

The kits cost about $20 per bag.

More information on Canning's endevour can be found on her blog at www.survivalcarekits.wordpress.com.