The Coldest Night of the Year in 2020 had quite the turnout. (Photo: Jenna Kong)
The Coldest Night of the Year was a success, but the fundraising isn’t over yet.
Outflow’s event coordinator, Andy Alford, said Saturday night’s event went great.
“The fundraising effort this year went great. We’ve raised $67,600 to date and we’ve 170 walkers so far. We raised 135 per cent of our goal,” he said.
Alford said this year was unique because of COVID-19 so the in-person King’s Square event which is normally done every year switched to virtual.
“We had lots of walkers walking throughout February. We had one lady that was walking every day in February to raise awareness and other walkers walked the day before or the day they thought would be colder than the 20th,” he said.
Alford said walkers went out in small groups around their personal communities to make their own track for the event.
“We had our biggest sponsor year to date. We had a lot of support from the businesses all around the community,” he said.
Alford said many walkers receiving toques this year, meaning adults who raised over $150 and children who raised over $75.
He said he walked his route with his team the day before in Hampton so he could be on hand to distribute toques on the 20th.
“We went for the 5 kilometres and I got separated from the group with somebody else and I accidentally did a little more because I didn’t know where I was going,” he said.
Alford said people are happy to do this for the community, and despite fewer walkers, they’ve raised more funds than any other year.
He said fundraising won’t officially stop until March 31, and they’ll be planning another walk day so those who didn’t participate can do so later.
The first priorities for the money raised will include the shelter itself and the community meals provided five days a week.
