Walkathon to aid homeless places set for Saturday

After week of balmy weather, it will be chilly on Coldest Night of the Year event

Enjoy the warm weather while you can because on the one night each year when bitter weather is a must, Windsor is getting it.

The Coldest Night of the Year, a walkathon held to raise funds for local homeless shelters, will be held this Saturday after a week of record-setting high temperatures. But according to David Phillips, a senior climatologist at Environment Canada, organizers couldn’t have picked a better day. He predicts Feb. 25 will have a high of 4 C and a low of -5 C, dipping well below the rest of this week’s temperatures.

“It will feel miserable, it will look miserable, and that’s probably the kind of atmosphere you want,” Phillips says. “Fortunately, it wasn’t held this past weekend, or they’d be walking in Bermuda shorts and tank tops.”

The Coldest Night of the Year walkathon is meant to give participants a hint of what it’s like to be homeless in the Canadian winter. But even in its inception, the Coldest Night of the Year has been ironically tied with warm weather. The event was created by Brian Carney and Mika Takamaki of Blue Sea Philanthropy, who came up with the idea on a flight to the balmy climate of Costa Rica.

The first walk was held in Kitchener in 2011, and now the idea has spread around the country with a goal to raise $4 million for services for the homeless. In Windsor, the walk is hosted by the Downtown Mission, and the goal is to raise $40,000 locally.

Last year the walk raised enough money to provide 14,600 safe nights of accommodations and more than 265,000 meals.

Participants can walk a two-km, five-km, or 10-km loop. There are 31 teams participating in the Windsor walk this year.

Event organizer Fiona Coughlin with the Downtown Mission says fundraisers like this are key to keeping its doors open.

“Our core programs don’t receive funding,” Coughlin says. “Our mission is run through the donations of the community.”

But it’s not just the money that helps. Coughlin says guests of the mission often feel lonely, and the walkathon is a way for them to see that the community supports them.

“It’s amazing for our guests to see hundreds of people walking a mile in their shoes,” she says.

Walkers will be able to have a chili dinner with the guests of the mission after the walk. “Everybody’s together. We’re walking together, we’re having dinner together, and we’re breaking bread together,” Coughlin says.

One of the teams participating is TD Windsor Essex Cares, led by Mandy Furtado. Her team is the top fundraiser so far this year. Last year, they also were the top fundraiser.

“It’s a really great team event to go out and be active during the walk, but also to raise funds,” Furtado adds. She says her team of 24 walkers hopes to raise $6,500 this year.

Furtado says last year’s walk was also in warmer weather than usual, and her team was too hot in the TD Canada Trust hats and scarves they wore to the event.

She says this Saturday’s dip in temperature is welcome.

“This year we’re actually looking forward to it being cold to really experience what it’s like to be out there on the streets,” Furtado says.

Coughlin says it’s not too late to register or donate.

For more information on the Coldest Night of the Year, visit canada.cnoy.org.

Everybody’s together. We’re walking together, we’re having dinner together, and we’re breaking bread together.