A Winnipeg musician is hitting the road with his guitar and a mission to shine a light on homelessness across Canada for a second time.
“We’re on the road, heading through western Canada to the west coast,” says Les Gillis. “We were in Regina this week at Soul’s Mission, where we played for 250 people who were having lunch. We got to meet a lot of people and sing some songs for them.”
Gillis, alongside his friend Robert Casale, left Winnipeg on Tuesday, July 21, to stop in most cities from Winnipeg to Vancouver to sing at shelters. This is the second time Gillis is doing a cross-Canada tour, as he travelled 11,000 km last year doing the same thing.
“We’re documenting only the staff and volunteers with interviews. When the journey is over, we’re going to be putting all this information together to do a short documentary that we’re going to be presenting to the federal and provincial government.”
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Documenting to create change
Gillis will be taking video of his singing, but mostly doing interviews with people on the front lines of helping those experiencing homelessness.
“The real heroes, in my eyes, are the volunteers on the front lines every day, trying to help people, care for them, feed them, shelter them, and be kind to them. They’re fantastic people.”
Gillis hopes this documentary can help create real change for so many experiencing financial hardship across the country.
“I have no anxiety whatsoever, because I feel what I’m doing has merit to it. I’m bringing as much attention as I can to the needs and wants of the people of our country, in hopes that we can do something that can benefit everybody.”
Giving back by volunteering
Before taking his guitar on the road, Gillis has been sharing his singing with people in shelters across Winnipeg for the past decade. Their reactions and gratitude have kept him coming back each time.
“People have been engaging with us. We played for an hour, and it seems like people forgot about their problems for that hour. The staff couldn’t thank us enough for coming because they feel the music brings us all together.”
Gillis encourages people interested in helping with the national crisis affecting people experiencing homelessness or in emergency food services to volunteer.
“You can call any of the shelters or soup kitchens, and they would be more than happy to give you all the information you need. From my experience, the staff and volunteers are safe. People appreciate everything you do, and it’s very rewarding for people that do volunteer.”
Anyone who wishes to support Gillis financially with a donation to help him with fuel and lodging costs during this journey can e-transfer directly to his son, Jeremy Gillis, at shelterus@yahoo.com.