Each year communities across Canada, and even a few in the U.S., participate in the Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY). The walk raises money for local charities serving people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness.
Last year, Bradford West Gwillimbury hosted its first ever CNOY walk, and it returns this year with the town as one of the over 180 communities participating on February 25.
“Homelessness, hunger, and hurt are not unique to Bradford, it’s a national issue that affects everybody,” said Rosi Martin, event coordinator for the Bradford walk.
“Everybody knows somebody that’s experiencing a difficult time and probably more of a difficult time than they have in the past. People who haven’t had challenges in the past are finding that they really have to buckle down. Raising awareness and having people understand and show compassion while doing something to help others is super important.”
The walk in Bradford will once again be raising money for YouthCALL, a free live-answer helpline assisting young people across Simcoe County.
“In Bradford we’re focusing on youth and the challenges that youth are experiencing in our community and hoping to provide them supports to keep them out of the cycle of homelessness,” said Martin.
“The pandemic has only compounded the challenges that our kids have experienced and it’s been more challenging for them to reach out and they’ve had bigger problems to deal with than they have had in the past.”
With the walk just a couple days away, its raised $42,492 with 239 walkers signed up and 37 teams set to participate.
“We had almost $2,600 come in on one day (this past Tuesday), and over the last few days we’ve had 30 walkers sign up; it’s wonderful,” said Martin.
“We’ve beat our totals from last year on event day and we know the last few days a lot happens. We’re already more successful and bigger with more participants than last year and more money raised than last year.”
Organized by United Way Simcoe Muskoka, last year just over $45,000 was raised, more than doubling the initial goal of $20,000, with over 200 people coming out for the walk.
“We set our goal this year at $70,000 knowing it was a big goal and we’re confident we’ll get there,” said Martin. “We’re accepting donations until the end of March so we still have four weeks post-event for people to support.”
On top of the walk, Boston Pizza Bradford hosted a Coldest Night of the Year Celebrity Server Night with 10 per cent from all sales going towards fundraising efforts.
“Boston Pizza has been a wonderful supporter and every year they have a campaign around Valentine’s Day where they give back to a charity. Proceeds from it have gone to our fundraising efforts throughout February,” said Martin.
Seeing the support the walk has received in its first two years has been wonderful, but not surprising says Martin, who knows everybody in the community is always looking to help with important causes.
“Bradford is a small-town with a really big heart,” she said. “The town has stepped up huge too with them declaring it Coldest Night of the Year week and hosting a flag raising for it.
"Mayor (James) Leduc has raised over $500 himself for the cause and the South Simcoe Police are close to $2,000. We’ve got some significant teams that have lent us support and having that support has been great.”
With the success of the inaugural walk in 2022, there’s a lot of fresh faces getting involved this year.
“As people participate and feel the excitement of being a part of the event, they’ll come back next year and bring a few more people that they know,” Martin explained.
“This year we have quite a few returning teams, returning walkers, and returning sponsors, so having a positive experience only spurs them to want to do it again and build on what they raised last year. Half the battle is educating people about the cause."
The walk will go down Holland Street West, starting and finishing at the Bradford and District Community Centre (125 Simcoe Road). Registration for the walk begins at 4 p.m. Saturday with the walk set for 5 p.m.
Learn more about the walk, sign up, and donate here. This year, across all CNOY walks, over $9 million has been raised so far with 31,502 walkers, 5,741 teams, 5,040 volunteers, 2,061 sponsors, and 95,430 donors.
