Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, YWCA Regina raised a record amount with the 2021 edition of their annual Coldest Night of the Year walk.
“We’ve had an incredible turnout. And we’ve raised more than we ever have,” said YWCA Regina CEO Melissa Coomber-Bendsten.
With a goal of raising $25,000, 161 participants stepped up to raise over $58,000.
Money raised by the event will help the YWCA Regina support those experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness in the Queen City, particularly through the organization’s shelter for women and girls — My Aunt’s Place.
“I think it’s really important to understand that homelessness doesn’t always look like somebody sleeping on the street. It can be people living precariously, couch-surfing and staying in unsafe situations.”
A 2018 point-in-time count found 286 homeless people in Regina. 86 were identified by the study as “hidden homeless”, or people who were staying at a home or location that was not their own.
Over half of the 286 were women and children.
While the weather was much warmer Saturday morning than it has been in recent weeks, Coomber-Bendsten noted that the event also serves to help people understand what it’s like to go without shelter in the cold.
“It’s also an advocacy event which allows people to connect with what family homelessness looks like in our city.”
Typically, the event involves a gathering before and after the walk downtown, and walkers usually head out together along a planned route.
But this year, the pandemic forced organizers to make adjustments.
Participants were asked to walk in smaller groups, or on their own, and chart their own courses.
“I think it’s been a great way for people to connect distance wise, and we’ve had people walking all over the city today so that’s pretty neat as well,” Bendsten said.
The Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser started in 2011.
Since then, events have been held in nearly one hundred and fifty cities across Canada.
Prior to this year, the event had raised $33,500,000 nationwide for Canadian charities working to alleviate housing, homelessness and harm.