Coldest Night of the Year comes to Tillsonburg

The annual Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser will have two new Oxford County locations when its returns early next year.

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The United Way Oxford announced this week that Ingersoll and Tillsonburg would be joining dozens of other communities across Canada by hosting the Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, fundraising walks.

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A national campaign that raises money for local homelessness supports and programs in each community, Coldest Night of the Year’s first Oxford County edition began in 2021 when local volunteer Scott McKague organized a Woodstock walk in support of Operation Sharing.

Both the new Ingersoll and Tillsonburg events will be used to “support, enhance and expand services, including Light House Transition House, street outreach, housing stability programs, food security and walk-in counseling,” United Way officials said in a media release.

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The inspiration for Coldest Night of the Year is a simple one: Participants walk together in the chill of the night during a cold Canadian winter to better understand the experience of being on the street. Since it was launched nationally in 2011 with just two locations, Coldest Night of the Year has spread to more than 200 Canadian towns and cities while raising almost $70 million for local programs and supports.

With the soaring cost of living and the ongoing housing crisis, there has also been a rising number of homeless in Canada in recent years. While an exact count is unavailable, Statistics Canada estimates that between 25,000 and 35,000 Canadians are homeless on any given night.

While there’s also no census of Oxford County’s homeless, the Oxford Housing Action Collaborative did hold a registry week in late November that provided a snapshot. During the four days of this survey, members of the collaborative counted 103 people in the Oxford County community without a home. While roughly 80 per cent were single adults, there were also 12 youth and eight families included in that count.

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The Tillsonburg Coldest Night of the Year walk begins and ends at the Lions Auditorium in the Tillsonburg Community Center while the Ingersoll event begins and ends at the Fusion Youth Center. Participants can walk either a two- or 5-kilometer route while warming up with hot drinks at rest stops along the way.

At the finish line, participants will be able to celebrate their efforts together. Adult walkers who raise more than $150 – or youth who bring in more than $70 – will also be given the iconic Coldest Night of the Year toques as the brave the winter weather.

Registration for the two new events is now open. Tillsonburg participants can join online at cnoy.org/location/tillsonburg while Ingersoll walkers can register at cnoy.org/location/ingersoll.

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