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Cloverdale’s Coldest Night event raises more than $230K

Second highest donation amount raised in Canada

The Cloverdale Community Kitchen raised more than $230K during its Coldest Night of the Year fundraising event.

Donations in 2022 eclipsed last year’s high water mark of $220K by more than $10K.

“We are just, again, overwhelmed with gratitude and amazed at the generosity and support from the community,” said Matthew Campbell, director of the Cloverdale Community Kitchen. “The response was fantastic over the last 72 hours, from Thursday night to Saturday.”

Campbell said he wasn’t sure they’d make their $200,000 goal, but by Friday, CCK had crossed that line and by Sunday, they were more than $30,000 over.

SEE ALSO: Community Kitchen on pace to reach fundraising goal

He added after last year’s walloping $220K, he thought it would be a struggle to get close to that number again.

Four-hundred and eighty-nine walkers participated on 70 teams this year. And while there was still a virtual element for those who wanted to walk in their own neighbourhood, most people congregated at the Community Kitchen and strode along pre-set routes of different distances through downtown Cloverdale.

Campbell said in-walk engagement was way up over previous years. There were so many people at the Community Kitchen this year that a lineup at the registration table on walk-day (Feb. 26) started at about 12:30 pm and lasted for two hours.

“I was also overwhelmed with the number of people that wanted to come and do something in person again. We’ve never had a lineup last like that. It was refreshing to see people taking pictures of each other with their phones, to see them talking, and to have such great support for what we do here.”

SEE ALSO: Sunrise students raise funds for ‘Coldest Night’ while duct taping principal to gym wall​

Programs at the Community Kitchen have tripled in size since the onset of the pandemic and are continuing to grow. Campbell said there are more people in need now than ever before. And he said they’ve been able to serve more needy families and seniors through outreach programs CCK has started.

“We reaching more people with our programs here, food bank and our meals program, but we’re also serving more with our mobile meals and other programs that reach out to the community. More people helped. More people served.”

One-hundred and sixty-five communities across Canada participated in this year’s Coldest Night event, the most locations yet. Canada-wide donations came in at more than $11.3 million, surpassing the national goal of $10 million.

As of publication time, supporters in Cloverdale had raised $231,578. Markus Kaulius and his team “Magnum Nutraceuticals” raised the most money, coming in at $25,166. Kaulius also raised the most by an individual, garnering $11,975 in donations and more than doubling his personal goal of $5,000.

Cloverdale’s Coldest Night raised the second-highest amount of money in Canada, with Ray of Hope Community Centre in Kitchener raising the most, $233,583, topping Cloverdale by just over $2,000.

This is the Community Kitchen’s ninth year taking part in Coldest Night. The Kitchen has been serving the Cloverdale area for more than 10 years and the funds raised will benefit those in need in Cloverdale, Langley, and Surrey.

Campbell added that support this year stretched a little further than it usually does. He said because it was a bigger event, the mass of people caused a bigger wake along Hwy 10 and in downtown Cloverdale.

“People were stopping their cars and asking our walkers what was going on,” explained Campbell. “We actually had people giving donations from their car windows. That’s something new.”

For more info on Coldest Night or the Kitchen, visit mycck.ca.



editor@cloverdalereporter.com

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Malin Jordan

About the Author: Malin Jordan

Malin is the editor of the Cloverdale Reporter.
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