A couple of students from the University of Alberta joined forces over the weekend with The Mustard Seed to open a street store for Edmonton’s less fortunate.

Chantelle Lam said she became interested in the idea when she heard about one held in Vancouver.

“I was really intrigued by the idea and the unique concept.

“I feel that a lot of these people are out there regardless of how warm or how cold it is. They are really friendly and thankful that we are doing this for them. That makes us super happy that our project actually did something for them.”

Lam explained that she contacted Christina Hachey to help with the project.

Together the girls approached The Mustard Seed.

“They came to us and said ‘Can we do this?’ and we said ‘yeah, you know we will jump right on that and we will be a vessel for you guys to use us’,” Alyssa Kruysse said.

Kruysse said they gathered donations for about a month and the event was planned for Saturday at noon.

Lam told CTV News they started the event early because of the lineup.

“It is really amazing to see what has become of it. I didn’t expect it to be such a big project at first.”

Shoppers were given 10 tickets that they could use on any items including coats and shoes.

Michael Wisebeck said when he first heard about the event he knew it would be great and managed to be second in line.

“All the stuff is high-end. It is really nice stuff for us.”

He said that Edmonton was one of the best cities in the country for taking care of its residents.

“It is a struggle but it’s not because there are lots of outreaches in this city that help lots.

“Everything is here. Edmonton is the best city in Canada for that. They really provide for the people that are low-income, disabled, like myself. I wouldn’t live anywhere else right now.”

Hachey said they were glad to have helped out.

“I wish something like this could happen all the time but I think for that to happen we need more people to be active and be able to collect more donations.”

According to Kruysse The Mustard Seed’s Personal Assistance Centre sees 1,000 people every month, offering each five clothing items.

“They only take what they can carry so having something available pretty regularly is great for them,” Kruysse said.

With files from Veronica Jubinville