The third annual Coldest Night of the Year took place last night in efforts to raise money and awareness to the plight of Barrie’s homeless and to help assist local shelter Youth Haven.
The annual event has over 100 locations around the country and has raised over $2 million since 2011.
The Barrie walk started up three years ago, in hopes of bringing attention to the problems that the homeless, particularly local youth, face on the cold nights of winter.
Nathan Sykes is the Executive Director of Barrie’s Youth Haven and feels an event like this really acts as an eye-opener to the community and helps keep the focus on some unsettling facts.
“This is Youth Haven’s 30th year and we are so proud of the way the people in Barrie have stepped up to help, particularly with this event,” said Sykes. “While there are many people of all ages that are suffering from homelessness, mental health concerns and addictions, the World Health Organization recently reported that 50 per cent of mental health issues begin at age 14 while 75 per cent occur at 18 years of age. This is why we focus on the youth of the city. We try to assist with and prevent the problems before they continue and ruin lives.”
While getting everyone off the streets would be ideal, Sykes knows that is unfortunately unlikely to happen. Until then though, Youth Haven has 24 beds (19 emergency and 5 transitional), counselling and case management.
The centre is well-equipped but every year needs more and more help to accommodate the growing numbers.
“The problem will never be fixed by just giving someone a place to sleep for the night,” said Sykes. “The real problem is with young people not having the life skills to go out and get a job, or ask for help. They’ve been so long ignored and left to fend for themselves that what they need is a re-education of sorts to how to function in life. That’s what we provide through life skills programs and peer to peer mentorship. This walk we do helps fund such a huge portion of our operation.”
Last year of 300 people across Simcoe County under the age of 19 came to Youth Haven in search of help. These at-risk youths were fleeing situations such as sexual and physical abuse, neglect and addictions from drugs and alcohol.
“We get more kids than we have space, which very sad,” said Sykes. “What we ask sometimes for folks to close their eyes and imagine having to turn away someone who is desperately seeking help because you don’t have the room; its heartbreaking. We are getting there, but will always need more help as the numbers continue to rise.”
MP for Barrie/Innisfil John Brassard was on hand to help the night. Brassard had just come from a polar bear dip in Innisfil for another local shelter and was cold but excited to see the turnout for the Coldest Night of the Year in Barrie.
“I’m pretty cold but know that I have a place to go get warm and that’s what makes this sink in even more,” said Brassard. “It’s critical for local politicians to be on-hand and involved in these events to help our citizens who so often go without a voice. This is a great crowd and I’m touched at how our city rallies around this cause even as the snow begins to fall and the temperature is starting to dip.”
There were groups on hand from many local businesses and organizations who were using some team spirit and adding some fun into the day. Some groups dressed in matching clothes for solidarity and others clapped and chanted.
Natasha Chorney brought her team from the Ferris Lane Community Church and started doing this three years ago, and as a mom felt it was necessary to help out as best she could.
“My church does this every year and I love teens and youth so I felt it was very important when I had heard about it,” said Chorney. “I am involved with my church’s youth group and we do so many fun events throughout the year and realize that while our youth have issues that we help them deal with, they have peers that are living on the street and suffering greatly from serious addictions. As a community, its vital we help out.”
While Coldest Night of the Year has different lengths for those looking to walk (2K, 5K and 10K), Chorney walked the 5K and said that despite the very cold and sometimes damp task, it is the youth and volunteers at Youth Haven that keep the walkers motivated.
“Not only does it make us think while we walk in the cold and try to not think about how cold we are when compared to how they deal with this every night, but its very emotional to walk past the Youth Haven residence and see them all standing outside with banners and cheering us saying thank you,” said Chorney. “That part is very emotional.”
For more information on the event and how it did this year as well to keep up to date for next year, check out the website
