Coldest Night of the Year walk sheds light on homeless
Hundreds of people in Windsor and Essex County communities laced up their walking shoes and put on their tuques Saturday to help the Downtown Mission of Windsor meet its fundraising goal of $100,000 via the Coldest Night of the Year walk.
It was the 10th year for the event, which not only raises money to support the hungry, homeless and hurting, but offers participants a glimpse into what life on the streets can be like.
“This is supposed to be just a snapshot of what someone who may be experiencing homelessness experiences,” said Rukshini Ponniah-goulin, the mission's executive director.
“The Coldest Night of the Year hasn't really been the coldest night of the year,” she added. “But today started off pretty cold.
“Thankfully, it's calmed down a little bit now, which will be great for our walkers, of course, when they're walking.”
Ponniah-goulin said more than 200 people registered for the walk through neighbourhoods in the central core of Windsor.
In addition, a group of scouts and guides walked with a team at Glenwood United Church in South Windsor earlier on Saturday collecting canned goods for the mission's food bank.
And groups from Kingsville, Harrow United and Roseland United walked in their neighbourhoods.
“So there's people all over the county walking as well,” PonniahGoulin said of the national event.
Laurie Green, her husband Mike Green, and fellow Unifor Local 444 employee and family assistance program (EFAP) committee members were among the crowd gathered before the walk outside the mission on Ouellette Avenue.
Green said she was there “to help bring awareness to the situation and the need for the Downtown Mission for money and to help the homeless.
“I think it's indicative of our housing crisis that's going on here,” she said. “And we really need to do something as a city to help these folks out.”