(Facebook/ Coldest Night of the Year - Prince Albert)

By Nigel Maxwell

Community support

Prince Albert prepares for Coldest Night of the Year

Feb 25, 2022 | 4:00 PM

Editor’s note: Story amended on Monday to include how much money was raised locally – over $36,000.

Anticipation is heating up one for the Prince Albert YWCA’s biggest fundraisers of the year.

The fourth annual Coldest Night of the Year, which includes a five kilometre walk, takes place Saturday. Dawn Vickers has signed up every year.

“Homelessness is here and if we can help out in some way, it benefits the community,” she said.

Vickers and her daughter walk as a team, aptly named “The Fast and the Flurries.” Reflecting back on some cold walks the past few years, Vickers acknowledged it does feel good to reach the finish line, but added she also knows for homeless people there isn’t a finish line.

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“You take that into consideration and people who do not have a shelter or a place to go and what they feel like walking around in really cold weather,” she said.

As of Friday at 2 p.m., there were 117 walkers registered, and over $32,000 had been raised. David Hambleton, Fund development Coordinator for the Prince Albert YWCA, said all funds raised stays in the community.

“We don’t get enough funding to deliver all of the services that are needed, like we get the basic funding to sort of keep the doors open and the lights on, and provide services for X amount of people,” he said.

The issue of homelessness has been the topic of multiple media reports, as well as a topic of discussion at City council. In December, a Homelessness Action Initiative was announced. Hambleton agreed there has been a rise in numbers on the streets.

“Pretty much all our programs that work as shelters or provide shelters are operating at capacity,” he said.

Hambleton also acknowledged there’s been many nights at the cold weather shelter, where they have been forced to turn people away, but added every effort is to find alternatives, with help from other community partners.

“Especially with the amount of snow and the pretty cold winter we’ve had, even by our standards, the demand is just much higher than we have the funding or even the capacity to serve,” he said.

For the fourth year in a row, the event’s lead sponsor is the Prince Albert Grand Council Women’s Commission. Chair Shirley Henderson said the event means a lot to both the women’s commission and Prince Albert Grand Council as a whole.

“We can’t sit back and just watch people go without food, or go without clothing,” she said.

Citing the shutdown of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company in 2017, Henderson explained there are many people who are simply stuck in the city, and have no way of getting home. And for the single people who do find a way to travel, it’s often a road to disappointment.

“Homes in the communities are given out to families with children so the single people often go without,” she explained.

For the third time in months, the women’s commission is donating jackets and there will be a table set up outside Save On Foods. There will be men’s and women’s sizes, as well as some for children.

(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

A number of other community sponsors have also lined up to help including Canadian Tire. Owner Malcolm Jenkins has agreed to match donations up to $20,000.

When all was said and done, over $36,000 was raised locally.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell