Coldest night of the year walk gives community a glimpse into homelessness in the winter | CBC News

Hundreds of Londoners are set to participate in an outdoor walk to raise money for local charities that support people who experience homelessness and food insecurity on Saturday evening. 

The annual Coldest Night of the Year (CONY) event is organized by Mission Services London to help raise money to provide meals, warm shelter, addiction treatment, and community mental health programs to the London community.

Sixty-three teams made up of 400 walkers have registered to walk up to five kilometres in the cold this year. The walk aims to give the community a sense of what homelessness in the winter can feel like, said Mission Services’s spokesperson, Jessica Gowers.

“It gives us a hint of the challenges that are faced by individuals and families that are experiencing really cold Canadian winters,” she said.

With the exception of a few weeks of bone chilling temperatures in January, this winter has been relatively mild, but even in a mild winter homeless people must contend with rain and high winds, which can be brutal when someone’s means of protection from the elements is a thin winter coat, a sleeping bag or a nylon tent nestled in the trees.  

“It can be difficult to focus on thriving when you’re just trying to stay warm and survive the night.,” Gowers said.

“CONY is meant to draw our attention to these issues and inspire the community to raise funds for vital programs and services that help our neighbours in need.”

CONY is held in 190 communities across Canada on Feb. 24 and walkers choose between a two or five kilometre walk. Since 2011, it has raised more than $75 million, according to its website.  

‘I don’t want to leave anybody behind’ 

For Patricia Marshal-DeSutter, an Indigenous community advocate from Ingersoll, the walk is an opportunity to give back to the outreach providers who gave her a second chance at life when she was living on the streets as a teenager with her young child.

“I’ve dealt with homelessness and food insecurity since I was about 16 and eventually met some of the right people who helped me get where I am, so I don’t want to leave anybody behind,” she said. 

“This gives back locally and make sure that programs that support people are able to continue to help people and create positive change and impact in our community.”

Marshall-DeSutter’s town will be participating in the walk for the first time this year and her daughter, Fae, 11, is fundraising to support United Way in Oxford County. 

“I’m fundraising for all the little people living in shelters right now with their parents like I did when I was a baby and for all the families who live in housing like I do now,” Fae wrote online.

Marshal-DeSutter also wants to raise awareness for Indigenous communities who she said are disproportionately impacted by homelessness and food insecurity. 

“Twenty-nine per cent of the unhoused in Canada are Indigenous, and in urban centres, that skyrockets to over 50 per cent,” said Marshal-DeSutter, who is founder of the Indigenous Solidarity and Awareness Network (ISAN) 

“Housing instability can happen to anybody and food insecurity is an everyday issue that’s becoming increasingly apparent across the board for people on every level of income.”

Mission Services has raised about $98,000 of its $150,000 goal so far, Gowers said, adding that Londoners taking part are excited to support their community and the purpose these organizations serve. 

The CONY walk in London starts at 4 p.m. at H.B. Beal Secondary School. In Ingersoll, it will be at the Fusion Youth Centre, starting at the same time.