Coldest Night of the Year
Written by Jaya James, Executive Director of Lakeside HOPE House. Published on February 12, 2020.
“One thing I love is the sense of fun and togetherness. There’s something about being with 400 people and all going out with the same purpose and being decked out in all kinds of gear. ”
The Coldest Night of the Year is the unofficial national walk for the hurting, hungry and homeless. There will be babies in strollers on the walk, and then there will be my mother’s team, called Over the Hill, and they’ll have people in their 80’s.
There are 140 communities involved across Canada and within every registered community there is a different charity selected. For Guelph, HOPE House is the designated charity.
My favorite story from one of our walks happened a couple years ago.
We had a team out walking and there were some kids in the group.
They stopped at a Tim Hortons because a young kid needed to use the bathroom. They just passed the rest stop and as kids often do they didn’t need to use the washroom, but a block later they did, so they saw a Tim Hortons and went in.
People inside immediately noticed a group of adults and kids walking in with the same toques.
One of the kids explained the walk and that they’re walking for individuals vulnerable within our community and she ended up getting $25-$30 on the spot just given to her in change from many people. The child was so excited!
“It’s time to walk. We need people in our community to know that they matter.”
It’s time to get out there and demonstrate to our community that we recognize all the different faces that are struggling and that poverty doesn't have a uniform appearance. It goes across from individuals who are able to work to people who can’t work, to people who are retired, and it goes across race and culture.
You can walk by forming your own team or joining as an individual with HOPE Walks, the HOPE House team.
More than just going out and walking, it's important to raise money. It's really as simple as asking some people for $10 or $20 dollars and people respond really well to this. The fundraising goal for each person is $150.
Someone from our HOPE House community was one of our best fundraisers! They were so bold and creative and raised $1,002.50 last year and it was all from asking people to donate $5, $10, $20 at a time and it all added up.
To learn more or sign up for HOPE House’s Coldest Night of the Year walk, click the button below!
We caught up with Jaya, the Executive Director of HOPE House, to learn a little more about the Coldest Night of the Year. For those not living in Guelph, you can click the button below to find a walk happening in your area!
Discover our other
Blogs
It used to be that for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations had their places: one existed to make money and the other existed to make our community better.
Written by Justin Chan, Founder of The Community Company.
Published on May 9, 2022.
———
“Nonprofits understand what works and what’s broken with our system because they live it day in and day out. They are already creating new…”