It’s official. Saturday will be the Coldest Night of the Year in Orillia, even if meteorologists tell us otherwise.
Coun. Mason Ainsworth made the declaration on behalf of the City of Orillia at a flag raising Tuesday morning at the Orillia Opera House.
A large crowd of organizers and supporters, including Orillia firefighters, showed up to see the Coldest Night of the Year flag raised.
Linda Goodall, event co-organizer, said the fundraising walk is on target to meet its $100,000 goal — money that will go toward the Building Hope campaign to support a new homeless shelter in town.
Almost $60,000 had been raised as of Tuesday afternoon, and “that will increase over the next four days,” Goodall said.
A lot of the money comes in on the night of the walk. Also, donations will be accepted until March 31.
Organizers expect about 500 people to take part in Saturday’s event, which will begin at Lions Oval Public School. So far, 361 people have signed up, representing 58 teams, and there is still time to join the effort.
Goodall said the community’s response has been encouraging but not surprising.
Last year’s walk raised $103,000, placing the Orillia event fourth overall for Coldest Night of the Year in Canada and first per capita. It is on track to repeat that success. With the amount of money raised so far, Orillia is sixth in Canada and first per capita for fundraising.
“People across Canada are saying, ‘What’s going on in Orillia? How do they do it?’” Goodall said.
Local support isn’t hard to find, with more than 100 volunteers stepping up to help.
“I love seeing Coldest Night of the Year hats all over Orillia,” Goodall said. “It just shows the level of community involvement.”
Saturday’s event includes two-, five- and 10-kilometre routes. The two-kilometre route will see participants walk from Lions Oval to the Lighthouse Soup Kitchen and Shelter before heading back to the Brant Street school. Those opting for the longer treks will get to stop at the site of the future shelter on Queen Street, where members of Emmanuel Baptist Church will hand out information about Building Hope and the Salvation Army’s community response unit will provide coffee and hot chocolate.
Registration will start at 4 p.m. Saturday. Opening ceremonies will get underway at 5, followed by the walk at 5:15.
For more information, visit cnoy.org/orillia.
