Coldest Night of the Year brings in $165K in donations

The Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) has come around, but it was only -4 C. The annual fundraiser surpassed the goal of $148,000 and made $165,879.

Donations are being collected for another month so Hope House executive director Jaya James made the next goal $175,000.

She also announced Hope House received an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant for $260,000. The money will go towards its farm, and bring healthy food into its food market.

The purpose of the CNOY walk is to raise money for those experiencing homelessness so Hope House can continue to provide services to support people in the community.

Coming in first place for the team that raised the most money was Hope Walks with team captain James at $15,961. Second place was a solo team called Digger Barr lead by Gordon Barr, he raised $13,465. Third place was Skyline Guelph led by Rubina Kapadia, with $11,210.

Over 400 walkers came together on Saturday either to walk solo or in teams on 2 km or 5 km routes.

There was a 10 per cent increase of the amount of people Hope House helped, over 1,000 tax returns were prepared, over 3,700 people have accessed services, from the Hope House annual report, said Michael Nicols, president of Compass Private Wealth, and lead sponsor of the event.

“The great thing about this, this stays local. Everything we’re doing is to help Jaya and her team,” said Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield.

“Tonight I have to brag about the team I’m on. I’ve got to give a shout out to team Orpha, 101 years old,” said Guelph  MPP Mike Schreiner. 

A huge round of applause erupted in the room and Orpha Thrasher stood up to give a wave. 

Donations have come in across the country, and Schreiner said it was because of recognition Thrasher received from being featured in the media. Thrasher embarked on the journey of completing 100 walks by her 100th birthday.

“Also I just have a very important correction, you said 101, I was told Orpha is 29-years-old,” said Sean Yo, co-chair of CNOY.

Jerome Cabrera walked with a team of friends after he heard about CNOY through his church. 

“For me I feel like that’s the most important thing because you can see where the money is going directly. Instead of going outside the community, it’s remaining in the community to grow,” said Cabrera.

Katelyn Ladouceur is a volunteer at Hope House and brought her friend on the walk.

“I thought, what better way to raise awareness for something that I’m very passionate about,” said Ladouceur.