Although it wasn’t the coldest night of the year, it was chilly enough for London’s 7th annual Coldest Night of the Year Walk this past Saturday. Nearly 300 walkers attended the event, in an effort to help fight the issue of homelessness.
This year’s event started off at Catholic Cental High School with opening ceremonies and a quick warm-up before being sent off. The family friendly event had two different walk distances, 2km or 5km with rest-stops and marshalls on the way.
Coldest Night of the Year Walk (CNOY) is a Canada-wide event with 120 communities hosting their own event. Since 2011 when CNOY started, it has raised over $16,000,000 for 132 charity partners. 
Each community partners with a local charity that supports homelessness, in London they partnered with Mission Services. Ericka Ayala Ronson of Mission Services London explains where the money raised ends up.
“We have a resource center where computers are available to people that may not have that access and who may be experiencing homelessness. It gives them an opportunity to work on a resume and the the resources they really need for a job search.”
London CNOY was another successful event raising only $900 short of their $65,000 goal. The fundraising team Freedom 55 Financial Freedom Walkers led the way in money raised with just over $19,000.
If you would like to help London reach it’s fundraising goal you can still donate at: https://cnoy.org/location/london
