9-year-old from Sudbury raises funds to help homeless people

When nine-year-old Larsen Therrien witnessed the homelessness in Sudbury's downtown after going to a Sudbury Wolves game, it brought him to tears.

He asked his mom, Pamela Therrien, to donate $5 to an individual outside of the arena that evening, but decided that was not enough.

"It made me feel sad, and I just really want to help them," he said.

His mom turned to a family friend, Andre Dumais, to help.

Dumais is the president of Ionic Mechatronics and a well-known philanthropist in the community.

"I was very excited to hear that Larson had a passion and something that made him have such an emotional, visceral kind of reaction," he said.

He recommended the family work with an existing organization already supporting the city's homeless people on the ground.

They landed on the Independent Living Centre Sudbury Manitoulin, which has an office in downtown Sudbury and a program that provides lunch bags and clothing to people in the community.

Dumais also promised Larsen he would match the first $1,000 he would raise for the cause.

"So of course, the little bugger did it in two days," he said.

To date, Larsen has collected more than $2,100 for the Independent Living Centre.

"I feel really happy for the homeless, because it's really important that they eat, drink and be clothed for the winter," Larsen said.