CISN Country Yards for Hope radiothon breaks fundraising goal for Hope Mission

An Edmonton radio morning crew braved the cold for more than 24 hours to raise important funds for a local shelter during its annual fundraiser.

The CISN Country campaign set an initial goal of raising $110,000 for Hope Mission during its annual Yards for Hope radiothon. It didn’t take long to break that mark, with $173,000 being donated by Thursday morning.

“We’re talking about a lot of meals we serve at Hope Mission, about 1,200 to 1,500 a day, so we’re really pushing for the campaign for the fall and winter season,” Hope Mission development team member Kelly Row said. “This will go to feed people, this will go to put plates of food on the table.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We're talking about a lot of meals we serve at Hope Mission, about 1,200 to 1,500 a day, so we're really pushing for the campaign for the fall and winter season," Hope Mission development team member Kelly Row said. "This will go to feed people, this will go to put plates of food on the table."

READ MORE: Edmonton’s Yards for Hope radiothon scores big touchdown for Hope Mission

Hope Mission provides basic and emergency care, including meals and shelter, as well as counselling and referral services for those in need. It delivers the services to over 800 people daily.

Row said it’s heart breaking to see some of the struggles those who use the agency’s services are going through.

“You start to wonder, ‘Man, could I have survived? Could I have made it through some of the trials and tribulations that these people have?'” he said.

READ MORE: Hope Mission provides Easter holiday meals to hundreds of Edmontonians

Ray Anderson is one of those individuals. He’s been working with Hope Mission to turn his life around.

“It actually brought a lot of hope into my life. I was very happy to see the Hope Mission,” Anderson said.  I had a smile on my face, they gave me a bottle of water and a little bit of food. Those are necessities when you’re homeless you don’t have access to.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It actually brought a lot of hope into my life. I was very happy to see the Hope Mission," Anderson said.  I had a smile on my face, they gave me a bottle of water and a little bit of food. Those are necessities when you're homeless you don't have access to."

Chris Scheetz, Jacqueline Sweeney and Matt Debeurs started camping out at Commonwealth Stadium at 5 a.m. Wednesday. The radiothon moved across the field one yard at a time for every $1,000 donated.

“There’s no other radio station that would do this, that would actually devote this much time to this kind of event and talk to these people, but this radio station is not like any other radio station on the planet and it’s because of the listeners that buy into exactly what we do,” Scheetz said.

Donations can still be made on the Hope Mission website.