North Bay's Fifth Annual Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser hit its $55,000 goal Saturday, with more money still to come.
This year the Gathering Place, North Bay's only soup kitchen, and the North Bay Warming Centre will share the money, providing food, and beds in a warm, safe environment for those in need.
The executive director of the Gathering Place, Dennis Chippa, says the money will help alleviate some of the financial strain.
"This will help us operate for a couple of months. The Warming Centre is now one of our programs, it is under the umbrella of the Gathering Place. So any fundraising from now on will be for both because both groups are serving the same people, and we're dealing with the same day-to-day issues of trying to keep a roof over our heads. There's strength in numbers," said Chippa.
"Wednesday we had 127 through for lunch. Those are summer numbers. We don't get those kinds of numbers at this time of year. We had 58 or 60 coming through for breakfast. That's a really high number for us at this time of the year. I don't know why, but we've had a really bizarre week. It's been very busy at the Warming Centre and very busy at the Gathering Place as well."
Chippa says the Gathering Place continues to work at finding ways to reduce the financial pressure.
"Food rescue has helped a tremendous amount. We're always trying to find money, and at the same time, trying to save money. Food rescue has been the biggest savings for us. We've been able to really, really reduce our overall grocery costs, which then gets transferred on to not just to us, but the Warming Centre."
Karrie Lepoudre, the program coordinator for the Warming Centre, says they're experiencing high demand for their services.
"We've had higher than expected number of visitors to the centre, both drop-ins, and overnight guests. We expected to be busy this year being in the new location, but not this busy. Every night we've been open, we've had from four to seven cots full."
On Saturday, close to 200 supporters hit the streets to walk the two, five and 10 kilometre routes.
Royal Bank of Canada employees, were joined on the walk by friends and family members.
"We've taken part in this event for many years. It's one that our staff members are really, truly passionate about.The employees have gone out and raised funds, and RBC has also come forward with $1,000," said Duncan MacCallum.
Employees at Knight Piesold Consulting have been part of the walk since it began.
"This is our fifth year doing this. We're big community supporters, and the Gathering Place is one cause that is undeniable," said spokesperson Lori Sennett.
"The most vulnerable of the people in our community use it. We love to help out, and this is a no-brainer as far as we're concerned. So this year we raised over $1,800. It doesn't take much to get our co-workers and our friends and family to donate to this because they know what it is, and what they do and how much fun we have doing the walk. It's fantastic."
