Warmth shared through Coldest Night walk
It may not have been the coldest night, but dozens of people walked to support others who are left out on the coldest nights of the year.
Start Me Up Niagara is an outreach centre that helps people dealing with homelessness, mental health problems, unemployment, poverty and addiction. There services include a daily drop-in, housing help, weekend lunches, advocacy and computer access.
“I think we really do help people. We have a no-barrier entry,” said Susan Venditti, director of Start Me Up. “So you can just come in and we’ll try to solve the problems. It could be as simple as you need to see a nurse or you need in to get income support or you need a place to live. So we have a full range of services and as those services get stronger, you get more and more people.
“But as far as issues of no housing, low income, those problems are very much here.”
Since 2013, Start Me Up has held the Coldest Night of the Year walk as its main fundraiser.
The Coldest Night of the Year event was founded by Brian Carney of Blue Sea Philanthropy.
“We are a foundation that exists to help charities raise money,” said Carney. “We fell in love with the work that charities do.”
Carney and his wife Sylvia know first-hand what it is like to have reach out for help.
“Personally, it means something to us because we fell into some hard times ourselves back in 1998,” said Carney. “So it is really quite ironic that almost 10 years after that I was in a position to start an event with our team that helped charities like Start Me Up raise a ton of money and bring other people together. It’s just that simple.”
Two years after the initial Coldest Night walks were begun in Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo, St. Catharines jumped on board.
The walk is now held in 120 locations across the country, with money going toward helping people struggling with homelessness. Currently $4.3 million of a $4.5-million goal has been raised this year, with more than 19,300 walkers in more than 3,000 teams across the country.
“We can’t believe how much it has grown,” said Carney. “It’s very humbling to see it.”
The St. Catharines community has rallied behind Coldest Night of the Year, bringing the total raised to $107,068 as of Sunday afternoon. Money can be donated until March 31 at www.cnoy.org/ location/stcatharines.
“Every year has been better, so this is just fantastic,” said Bob Tanouye, a member of the Start Me Up board. “We are doing great this year. We had a goal of $100,000 and we’ve reached it already. That doesn’t even take into account the money that we don’t even know that is there yet. So I think we are going to blow the socks off $100,000. Hats off to St. Catharines.”
Wanting to check out the buzz of a city that Carney feels has a strong and successful campaign, he and his wife made the trip from Kitchener to St. Catharines to take part in the walk.
“From $35,000 the first year to well over $100,000 this year, it’s incredible,” said Carney.
Venditti is extremely grateful for the support from the community. She has seen the need for Start Me Up services increase by 50 per cent over the past year.
“We had 47,000 drop-in visits,” she said. “We did about 20,000 meals and that’s just on weekends and holidays.”
She believes the uptick is due to increased awareness about available Start Me Up services and because underlying problems that bring people to its door are worse.
For people wanting to help but not quite sure how, Venditti has several suggestions.
“One thing anyone can do, you can money to help us do it, also if you have an apartment or a room that you are renting, get a hold of us so we can help fill it for you,” she said. “Do you have a part-time job that we might have a worker that can work few hours a week with you? … We have a garden project started and we need people to work in the garden with us.
“There’s lots of things people can do.”