A group of Okotoks students will soon spend 24 hours outdoors for a good cause.

On Thursday, Feb. 8, a dozen students from École Beausoleil will be participating in the 24 Hours for Hunger event, as part of a donation drive for local food banks.

The 12 students will be outfitted with sleeping bags, cardboard boxes, and a few other provisions.

ecole beausoleil boxesStudents will make use of cardboard boxes for shelter. Photo courtesy of École Beausoleil.

During the day, they'll be walking around the neighbourhood and collecting donations.

Among them will be eighth-grade student Logan Gould, who isn't feeling too nervous about braving the night outdoors.

"I think I'm going to well, I think I'm pretty tough... We're going to be having our sleeping bags as well as mats, but apart from that we can have a pillow and our boxes, we're really trying to have as little as possible."

Having taken some outdoor education classes, Gould already has some strategies in mind for the big night.

"I'm thinking we probably should build pretty small in order to keep the heat in better, as well as trying to put as much distance between ourselves and the ground so that we can stay warm throughout the night."

École Beausoleil has already been accepting donations for about a week, accepting money and non-perishable goods.

Gould is thrilled with the response so far.

"It's been really awesome. We really weren't expecting to get as many donations as we did. We've got an entire canister completely full of food and we're filling a second. It's really going great for our first year."

Anyone looking to contribute can drop donations off at the school, or directly to a local food bank on behalf of the school.