Clayton Clysdale-Finnell chilled out — literally — on the roof of Moose Jaw’s Giant Tiger for 30 hours this weekend to raise money, food and toy donations for the Salvation Army and Moose Jaw Food Bank.
“This is my third year doing it,” said Clysdale-Finnell. “I just do it because I was a poor kid growing up, so I wanted to do something.”
Clysdale-Finnell, who owns Bright Side Electric, said he does the camp-out — called Geek on the Peak — each year because he wants to preserve Moose Jaw’s “small town feel” and make sure people keep taking care of each other.
The idea, he said, came from a man who camps out on the roof of a business in Lloydminster. Clysdale-Finnell said he hopes it will spread to Regina and elsewhere.
The greatest challenge, he said, was dealing with the wind.
“You wouldn’t think (it’s very cold), but that wind picks up,” he said. “All of my friends think I’m absolutely crazy.”
But, Clysdale-Finnell said, the weather is bearable if he dresses right.
“We live in Saskatchewan. I know how to dress for the weather here. Basically, I wear long johns and play the guitar (and) try to keep busy, because with 30 hours up on a roof, there’s not really much to do,” he said.
Clysdale-Finnell said that, so far, response has been good.
“I’ve had great response (from Moose Jaw) and I have the best sponsors helping me out... everybody has been awesome, and they don’t even do it for name recognition, they just do it because they really care about people,” he said.
Last year, Clysdale-Finnell said, the amount of donations brought in “wasn’t phenomenal,” but his first year was “pretty good.”
“I got a couple of bikes, a whole bunch of toys and lots of food (the first year),” he said, adding that he brought in a truckload of donations last year.
But Clysdale-Finnell isn’t terribly concerned about volume.
“I’m not really keeping a tally,” said Clysdale-Finnell. “It’s more about getting the word out there to people, to care about others instead of just being so busy getting that iPod or the new X-Box or Call of Duty game.”
