Coldest Night of the Year walk returns

With the desperate image still fresh in her mind of her anguished and mentally ailing son deliberately walking in front of a car to have his face smashed into the side mirror, the organizer of the Coldest Night of the Year walk is more determined than ever to raise funds again this year to help eliminate homelessness in Prince George.

Elda Egan’s son’s unpredictable outbursts and mental instability makes keeping a roof over his head a real-life challenge. He has been homeless, sometimes for months at a time, due to violent behaviour towards himself and others. A nightmare for a concerned mother.

The second annual Coldest Night of the Year, a two, five or 10 km family-friendly walk, takes place Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. where the event begins and ends at St. Giles Church, 1500 Edmonton St.

There is also a variety of different soups on offer during the event, where participants can gather together to share a meal. There are already more than 100 people registered for this year’s event with the hopes of 200 attending. The goal is to raise $40,000.

Egan, event director, who wishes to keep her son’s name anonymous, was inspired to hold the event in Prince George as she visited her 20-something autistic and mentally ill son during his stay in the Burnaby Centre a couple of years ago. Egan’s son was trying to get stabilized on his medication, which has proven to be an ongoing challenge. Family members Egan was staying with during that visit invited her to attended the Coldest Night of the Year walk with them that was held in Burnaby. She was so deeply moved by the experience, it inspired her to hold the event in Prince George last year.

The Coldest Night of the Year walk offers a glimpse into the challenges faced by people who are homeless. The event began in Ontario in 2011, and now there are more than 100 communities that participate each year.

The local event is held in partnership with St. Giles Presbyterian Church and AWAC (An Association Advocating for Women and Community), an organization that originally provided safe and supported housing to women and female youth at risk and on the streets, and now has expanded their mandate to include men in need as well.

Proceeds from the fundraiser will support AWAC housing programs while also helping the church benevolence program that provides food hampers to those in need.

“At this time last year my son was in housing,” said Egan. “He wasn’t doing perfectly but then he never will. In April he had a really bad psychotic episode, smashed his head against the wall, put a gash in the wall, a gash in his head, ripped the kitchen counter right off, kicked in his TV – he was just so calm when he told me about it. He said ‘I guess I was angry on several levels.’ Well, he lost his supported housing but there was a landlord so there wasn’t anything they could do and you can see if from their viewpoint.”

He tried to get market housing because he doesn’t see how he comes across but it’s not feasible for him, Egan added.

He was then homeless and missed taking his medication.

“He broke into someone’s house to take a shower and it went on from there and he ended up in the hospital in the summer and they put him in an induced coma because he was in such rough shape,” Egan said.

After discussions with medical authorities it was determined that there was no housing available for Egan’s son anywhere in Prince George.

“It was kind of hard to leave a meeting without a plan,” Egan said. “I was very frustrated and pretty scared too, because this is my son.”

Egan’s son currently has temporary housing run by a local nonprofit organization.

Although Egan’s son has some unique issues, there are other people in the community that have similar stories.

AWAC’s executive director, Connie Abe, has seen this type of situation before where people who need stability in housing and Connie Abe, executive director of AWAC, and Elda Egan, coordinator of the Coldest Night of the Year walk, discuss this year’s Coldest Night event that will take place on Feb. 24. medication use have outbursts and are removed from their homes because of damage done or who become a threat to themselves or others. As a result of being evicted they go out on the street only to self-medicate and it’s a downward spiral from there.

AWAC has been able to secure a unique type of housing where there will be 28 units for people in need to access supported housing, that includes private rooms with a community kitchen and dining room to prepare and share meals. The old Economy Inn, 1915 Third Ave., will be converted to accommodate those in the community that don’t fit anywhere else. The supported housing project will be ready to take on clients in the fall.

“Elda’s son’s story is very familiar to me,” said Abe.

“We have clients who have mental health issues and we build relationships with these individuals so our outreach team takes the medications to the clients and checks in with them. We are able to provide support to those clients who really need it.”

Some of the funds raised during the Coldest Day of the Year event will go to AWAC to help set people up in their new housing.

Everyone is welcome to attend the event.

For more information and to register visit to https://cnoy.org/ location/princegeorge.

For more information about the local walk contact Elda Egan at 250-964-6583 or email evsones@ gmail.com.