Coldest Night Walk ‘opens up new possibilities for us’: Andrew
The Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser and walk was a huge success again this year, with the Valley effort placing fifth in Canada and raising more than $72,000.
According to the Coldest Night of the Year scoreboard, as of Feb. 22, the Annapolis Valley had been credited with 53 teams registered, 384 walkers, 2,153 donors and had raised $72,653.34 towards alleviating the problem of homelessness.
The money raised through the local effort goes to the local homeless shelter, Open Arms, in Kentville and Berwick, and Inn From the Cold.
Open Arms founder and co-ordinator John Andrew praised the effort, which is gaining more momentum every year.
“We’ve been swinging back and forth with Winnipeg all day for fourth and fifth in the country,” Andrew said. “(It’s) surprising, but at the same time, not so, how well we seem to do with this each year.”
Valley people, and Nova Scotians in general, tend to be generous in their donations to charity.
“We know how unified we are around here,” Andrew said.
The Coldest Night effort is “about more than money,” he said, although the money raised is welcome as well.
“The money is great, but what it does for us is to create a higher level of visibility for the issues,” he said.
“It’s certainly changed things for Open Arms. We’ve been bumping along for 1213 years now, and this initiative has made a real difference,” both in terms of increased resources and increased publicity and awareness.
“We now have our own facility, and we anticipate being able to offer assistance to more than 1,000 households locally.”
Households, he pointed out, can be of any size, from individuals to families with several children.
In addition to the walkers, some of whom weren’t included in the total on the website, there were between 60 and 100 dedicated volunteers, doing everything from registration to traffic control.
Andrew anticipated there would be close to 500 people on hand when all was said and done.
Any effort of this kind, he said, “is all about good will.” There are a number of societies and organizations involved, he added.
“We all know each other and get along well. That’s one of the things about being part of a community like this,” he said.
“We’re moving into the area, among the group, of a community outreach centre, and we’re planning to move into the area of affordable housing.”
Each year, as the Coldest Night effort continues to grow, Andrew says “it opens up new possibilities for us.
“We still hold that it’s unacceptable in today’s society that we’re still talking about homelessness. There’s a lot of generosity here today, but there are still people who are sleeping outside at night, and that’s unacceptable.”