A Nanaimo area non-profit has its sights set on raising $150,000 to mitigate homelessness in the area.
Benefiting Island Crisis Care Society, the Coldest Night of the Year walk takes place Saturday, Feb. 24, beginning at 4 p.m. at St. Andrew’s United Church on the corner of Fitzwilliam and Wesley streets.
Money raised will go toward Island Crisis Care Society initiatives, including the rent subsidy program. While the society still works with people experiencing substance-use and mental health issues, it is seeing more clients accessing services due to cost-of-living increases, said Jennifer Short, Coldest Night of the Year event coordinator.
“We have a higher number of seniors and [other] people just not being able to afford living in the community,” she said. “That’s where our rent subsidy program expanding is really something that we’re looking forward to because we’re able to help people find somewhere that they can live, or help people stay where they are. We don’t have to technically wait till they become unhoused to be able to help them.”
Following 4 p.m. check-in on Feb. 24, the walk commences at 5 p.m., ending at 7 p.m. and participants will be treated to a light meal in the church after the walk.
It snowed during last year’s event and Short said inclement weather allows walkers to empathize with those who are unhoused.
“The intention is that people get a small glimpse of what it is like to be outside in bad weather and then when they finish up the walk … they realize how fortunate [they] are to have that warm space to go into, because many people who we support through this, have had the experience of not having a warm space to go to afterwards and they have to get through the whole night in the cold.”
Adults who raise more than $150 and youths who raise more than $75 will be gifted a Coldest Night tuque for their efforts.
There are two routes for the walk, one two kilometres in length and the other five kilometres. People can sign up individually or as part of a team. For more information, to donate or to volunteer, visit www.cnoy.org/location/nanaimo.
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