Guelph is 51 days away from one of its most memorable fundraising events of the year and just like last year, it will be taking place in person and virtually.
This means participants can either choose to walk on their own on a route they choose or tag along on the provided routes on Feb. 26. Participants can sign up here.
"You can choose to walk with other people or you can choose to walk by yourself," said Jaya James, executive director of HOPE House.
The Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) event hosted by HOPE House will officially take place on Feb. 26 and has already raised 12 percent which is ($19,215) of the $160,000 goal.
James is encouraging Guelphites to reach out to people they know to help raise money for local charities that help people struggling with homelessness and hunger during some of the coldest days of the year.
“We know that we can't take our eye off of encouraging everyone to get out there to walk, encouraging everyone to ask,” said James.
“Right now during COVID with people feeling isolated, the importance of a personal phone call and email directed specifically at a person acknowledging the relationship you have with them, letting them know why it is important that they support you is so critical because it really helps make people feel more connected to each other.”
James said the event raised $161,000 last year, and $102,000 in 2020 which made the year 2021 a record breaking year.
“What I know is that if ever the pandemic shined the light on something good, it's that Guelph is a giving community,” said James.
“To me the Coldest Night of the Year walk last year really highlighted that even in the midst of really challenging times for the entire community, the community stepped forward and took care of each other.
James said there were many individuals in Guelph who joined the walk for the first time last year.
While the official numbers show that there were 74 teams and 388 walkers in 2021, she said the actual number is much higher because many participants didn’t register every member in their family due to there not being a meal held in person this year.
Mika Takamaki, spokesperson for CNOY, said it is possible that one of the reasons the event grew so dramatically over the pandemic is because so many people had been affected by the pandemic.
“We all knew somebody who had been affected by COVID. And so people really wanted to make a difference in their community and help their neighbours, help their community so I think that may have really played a factor in why the event grew. People, businesses, individuals, were just incredibly generous in the event last year,” said Takamaki.
He said last year, Guelph broke its own fundraising records and as of Thursday, they stand at $19,000 which already puts them well ahead of last year’s pace.
“It's already turning into a great event because the vast majority of the money is raised in the last couple of weeks. So $19,000 doesn't seem like much right now. But it's actually at this stage of the event. This is their best year ever,” said Takamaki.
