As it turned out, Saturday wasn’t quite the Coldest Night of the Year, but it was still pretty brisk as 45 teams, 318 walkers and almost a thousand Nelson donors took to their streets to show solidarity with the most impoverished members of the community.
“We did great on so many levels,” said Nelson CARES’ Lisa McGeady. “We surpassed our goal significantly. We were hoping to raise about $25,000, but now we’re estimating it will be about $47,000.
“All of that money is going directly into the Room to Live campaign. With this money we are now two entire rooms closer to completing the project.”
The funds will cover the cost of refurbishing two rooms at the historic Ward Street Place, as well as maintenance for the next 50 years.
McGeady said Nelson is punching way above its weight when it comes to advocating for affordable housing. Out of 80 communities, Nelson came 25th for overall fundraising.
“We finished 11th for number of teams and we finished seventh for the most walkers, and we’re one of the tiniest communities on that list. We’re like the little town that could,” said McGeady.
Event coordinator Beth Seed said the evening was a pleasure, with hundreds of toque-clad, coffee-drinking do-gooders coming together.
“That’s 318 people in our community thinking about homelessness. If you multiply that across the many communities, that’s a lot of energy going into this issue.”
She said the Stepping Stones shelter sees approximately 389 people a year, which makes the numbers roughly even. She hopes that’s a good sign.
“There were people standing in front of our building and all the way down the block. They were having conversations and drinking free coffee from Oso. We all dispersed at 5:15 with the samba band, everyone did their walks, and then we all filtered back to the United Church in waves.”
She was heartened by the experience.
“I think in this community people really care. When they recognize there’s a need to support those less fortunate and there’s a means, they jump on it.
“My favourite part was watching all the walkers leave and having this moment of ‘wow, that’s incredible’. Seeing all these people working towards a common goal was a highlight for me.”