EDMONTON – Toques were being sold in downtown Tuesday, not just to keep you warm in the cold temperatures but also to help the homeless.
The 19th annual Toque Tuesday is a national day of awareness in support of fighting homelessness. The toques were sold for $10 each.
“We know it’s a complex issue and it’s going to take a lot of work, but it’s going to take a whole community, and the Raising the Roof campaign and the Toque Tuesday allows us to engage in that conversation with the rest of Edmonton,” Carla Segura, Society for Safe Accommodations for Queer Edmonton Youth, said.
WATCH BELOW: Toque Tuesday is a national initiative that raises funds for homeless youth. Erin Chalmers spoke to an organizer of the fundraiser during Tuesday’s Morning News.
A number of representatives from organizations like Raising the Roof sold toques.
This year, the campaign supported Edmonton’s SAFQEY organization which helps homeless LGBTQ youth.
“Forty per cent of the youth on our streets identify as part of the LGBTQ community and they’re very young. The average of that population is like 12-years-old, so really young, really needing support and really needing a community,” said Susan McGee, Homeward Trust.
Edmonton’s 2014 Homeless Count found there were 240 youth between the ages of 13 and 24 without a home.
It’s difficult to determine if the number of homeless youth is rising or dropping in Edmonton because many are the “hidden homeless,” McGee added.
“We know that it does take a collaborative effort, and in the last two years we’ve seen a lot of progress with the community and working together,” McGee said.
“As kind of a systems approach, we are launching a housing first team shortly as well as youth helps, so that we can bring service providers together from government and community. So there’s been a lot of progress in that regard,” McGee said.
Toque Tuesday has raised $7 million nationally since it launched in 1997.
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