It took five days, 40 hours, 700 kilometres and 84 successful boosts, but a Regina man was able to take advantage of the recent deep freeze to raise $1,681 for a Regina warming shelter.
“The idea literally just popped into my head Monday morning. I thought. ‘I don’t have much work this week. I should go out and help people,'” said Corie Rempel of Rempel Contracting.
Through posts on Facebook and word of mouth, Rempel let it be known that he was spending the week driving around Regina boosting dead car batteries. He says his phone was “ringing off the hook” by the end of the week.
“Planning was stressful for sure,” he said.
“I wasn’t able to look after everybody that called, which will bother me. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you.”
On Tuesday, Rempel plans to take the money raised to Awasiw — A Place of Hope, a warm-up station opened by YWCA Regina and the All Nations Hope Network late last year.
“They were the logical choice to help people freezing out there,” Rempel said of the choice to donate to Awasiw. “Boosting cars — that’s helping people in the cold. Raising the money — that’s helping more people cope with this cold.”
In total, Rempel said he booked 118 boosts through the week and was able to attend to 106 of them.
“Some people were so thankful that they almost broke into tears. It was very heartwarming for me to see that.”
He says he would consider doing it again if another deep freeze comes Regina’s way. But for now, he’s happy to be in from the cold.
“After the amount of time I spent outside, it’s taken a toll on my body. It’ll be nice to give myself a bit of a break and relax.”