March for Shelter hosted in Kinsmen Park

By John Watson Local Journalism initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Overnight Shelter (SOS) ran one of its largest fundraisers of the year in tandem with the Town of Strathmore’s Strathmore Day. 

The March for Shelter has been hosted for four years now and the SOS Executive Director Elizabeth Karp said she was hoping the event would be bigger than ever.

“We walk two-to-five kilometers and people sponsor us to walk and all the money goes towards our bills at the shelter,” said Karp. “It’s a great fundraiser and its great community support usually, and we can’t do it without community. We’d like to hit $10,000 at some point.”

Karp added the fundraiser typically brings in between $5,000 and $7,000 for the SOS, which helps to pay for expenses such as food, utilities, wages and even some of the costs associated with getting clients settled into homes.

The hope, Karp said, was that in partnering with the Town of Strathmore, it would encourage more people to come out and participate.

“We’re just coming off of the restrictions with COVID-19, so we were hoping that would be (cause for) a greater turnout for us this year. With the weather not being great, we’ll see what happens,” said Karp.

The ask was that participants complete two laps around Kinsmen Lake as part of the walk. Additionally, the SOS was selling goods made by some of their clients at a table in Kinsmen Park. All proceeds would go directly to the shelter.

Karp explained the inspiration for the March for Shelter was actually inspired by a similar event which occurs on a much larger scale.

“There is a national one – the Cold Walk, that is done Nationally, but they take a percentage and we’re not big enough to take part in that,” said Karp. “This way, everything goes directly to the (SOS and) we don’t have to worry about administration costs or anything like that, so that’s what gave us the idea.”

Though the SOS does always accept and is grateful for any donations sent their way, Karp added at the moment, monetary donations are the most helpful.

Now that COVID-19 restrictions are largely lifted, the shelter is looking at more ways to host fundraisers and continue to help its clients.

“We are looking at several different events to see how we can raise some more funds and keep the shelter going. We have some government grants that are available for us that we have but it isn’t enough in the long run,” said Karp. “The clients at the shelter, the amount of people has increased. We’re feeding 16-plus people every night and that takes a fair bit of coin.”

Anyone interested in donating can do so through the shelter’s website (www.strathmoreovernightshelter.ca).