Coldest Night of the Year is set to host its 8th annual walkathon on Saturday, Feb. 22 to raise funds for The Association for Women and Community (AWAC).
The event looks to bring support and awareness about homelessness and the cycle of addiction that affects so many in Prince George.
The program was brought to the attention of AWAC by Elda Egan after she visited her son at Brinadee Burnaby Community Mental Health and Substance Use Centre while Vancouver was hosting its own Coldest Night of the Year walkathon.
Egan’s son passed away in 2022 due to fentanyl poisoning after dealing with mental health issues, addiction and homelessness. His story has inspired Edgan to help unhoused people across the city.
“Luke's story is so much like many other people's stories,” said Edgan. “AWAC has seen it many times before. People are just caught in that cycle of addictions and having mental illness, getting addictions, not getting treatment, and being unhoused …
“Again this is not unusual. Staff at AWAC have had several people close to them die of fentanyl poisoning. Our root captain this year, Kim. I've known him for years because he worked with my son since he was 13. This is very important to him and he has worked with many young people, one of whom died just a couple of weeks ago. He said this was just become so much more important because of that.”
The walkathon will begin at St. Giles Church, which has partnered with AWAC, and will head down past Parkwood, along Victoria Street and then over to AWAC on George Street for a rest stop before the return to St. Giles on Edmonton Street.
“There are two parts to Coldest Night," said Egan. “There's the raising money for AWAC, and then there's also making it more visible that we are reaching out, raising money by having to walk, and having enough of a presence during our time that people notice and think that this is a good thing to be doing.”
Kayla Derkatch, the community support manager at AWAC, spoke with The Citizen about why AWAC is so essential to the support of unhoused people in Prince George.
“There are people dying every day out there from frostbite," said Derkatch. “They are just freezing to death out there and we've done everything we can. Normally we have one vehicle out there at night driving around to serve hot chocolate and stuff, but we've actually doubled up and have we have two vans out there now and we're doing as much transport and finding people anywhere possible to help keep these people alive. I've gone out most of the time and I'm working the day shift and night. It's absolutely crazy, but we'll do anything to help them. They're so vulnerable. They're they're going to die out there and they're people with kids and sisters and brothers.”
The walkathon currently has 74 walkers signed up so far with 13 teams and has raised $13,431 of their $33,000 goal.
AWAC is currently looking for more volunteers and walkers to help with the event and welcomes donations of any amount to support their cause. They are also looking for local volunteers to help with the event itself.
If you are interested in signing up for the event or are looking to donate or volunteer visit Coldest Night of the Year's PG website
