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‘Unprecedented support’ for South Surrey-White Rock Coldest Night of the Year

Virtual event raises more than $200K
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Sources’ officials are celebrating after Coldest Night of the Year campaign surpasses goal of raising $200,000 for agency’s homelessness-prevention and rent bank programs. (Contributed photo)

Sources’ Coldest Night of the Year event has exceeded its fundraising goal, generating more than $200K for homelessness-prevention services and other community programming.

According to a news release issued late Thursday (March 31, the last day of the national fundraising campaign), Sources’ virtual event attracted 454 people to walk in support of programs that directly benefit those living in White Rock and South Surrey.

Immediately following the weekend event, officials announced that fundraising had passed the $185,000 mark, and optimism was high that the ultimate goal could be met.

READ MORE: Sources’ Coldest Night of the Year outpaces $185k

In all, $201,407 was raised.

“Among the 165 locations that participated in this event, we ranked #5 in Canada for the most amount of dollars raised for our community,” Megan Knight, CNOY co-chair and SOURCES Foundation board member, said in the release.

“As we conclude our ninth year of CNOY, it is with great pride that I announce we have raised over $960,000 to-date. That’s nearly $1 million!”

The release described running an event during uncertain times as “no easy feat.” Due to the pandemic, this was the second year in a row that Sources’ CNOY was held virtually, and the response – a 21 per cent increase in walker participation – was “overwhelming.”

READ MORE: White Rock-South Surrey ‘Coldest Night’ event goes fully virtual again

Among teams that had an uptick in their group was the White Rock Baptist Church.

Rev. Jennifer Friesen said the virtual format drew a number of church members and their dogs to walk with their 20 registered teams “just for fun!”

“We had kids as young as six, all the way up to grandmas in their 80’s, walking together on a Saturday afternoon,” Friesen said in the release.

This year’s top White Rock/South Surrey walker was Srinivasan Rajagopal, who raised $10,000, while the top team was White Rock Pride Society, collecting $22,440.

Other top teams include the Rotary Club of White Rock, raising $13,380, and the White Rock Baptist Church, raising $13,150.



tholmes@peacearchnews.com
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Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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