Friends in Mount Pleasant bringing coolers full of cold drinks to neighbourhood
Posted June 27, 2021 12:54 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Two friends in the Mount Pleasant area are helping vulnerable people stay cool during the ongoing heatwave by giving out cold drinks.
Lindsey Jackson and Michelle Gagnon-Creeley started Mt. Pleasant Mutual Aid aiming to provide help to those less fortunate by delivering food and drinks.
Gagnon-Creeley says with the heatwave, vulnerable people are the most at risk, so they wanted to offer up a solution for those struggling to access water.
“When we knew that [the heatwave] was hitting this weekend, we were a little bit nervous about what that would mean for our unhoused neighbours because water fountains are in limited supply. It’s pretty hard to find easy access to water,” she says.
“So I thought, why not just put coolers out and see what happens?”
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Several blue coolers full of cold drinks have been scattered around the Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood and since, Gagnon-Creeley says she’s seen an outpouring of support.
“People have been filling up the coolers, which has been probably the most exciting thing to see in the last few hours. I’ve been checking the coolers. There’s one that’s right beside our building. I’m noticing bottles in there that are not from us. So that’s really exciting to see that people are taking this on as their own project.”
The two friends add while there might be a risk of coolers being stolen or lost, they are hoping to source cheap coolers to keep this initiative going.
The pair says you can find them online and donate to the cause or start your own cooler in your own neighbourhood.
But they say the most important thing is to check in on un-housed people in your area to make sure they are staying cool and hydrated.
“I think that’s maybe the most important takeaway from this. It’s really important to speak to our community and figure out what exactly their needs are. And it seems like here in Mount Pleasant, it’s water and Gatorade,” Gagnon-Creeley adds.
