Battlefords community raises nearly $55K at Coldest Night of the Year walk

Over time, Gee gathered $13,130 of his $11,000 goal from local community donors, some who even needed the spare change that they gladly gave away.

“There are people that I’ve met over the years, and some people that I’ve never met before. I said, Lord, show me what you want me to do, and he provided people for me.”

While fundraising, Gee began to climb the national leaderboard for CNOY. At one point he made it to number five before eventually being bumped back down.

“I got bumped lower and lower, and after a while, I was number 10, when I came in here and then 20 minutes later, I was number 11.”

“Battleford is a very small place in Canada, and I’m competing against big cities, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa,” he said.

Due to his age, Gee expected this to be his last year walking in the event. Moving forward, he will continue to raise money to spread his message:

“I don’t care who you are or what you are. I don’t look at you because of your job. I treat everybody the same, people are people, some just need help sometimes.”

Other walkers on the route also participated with their own personal reasonings and messages. For Elijah Corban and Deanna Covert, that means relating to affected youth.

Deanna Covert and Elijah Corban dressed up for the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser. (Image Credit: Alyssa Rudolph/ battlefordsNOW)

“Our team is composed of youth and youth leaders. So, it hits very close to home with us because it’s for youth and people a little bit older than our age,” Corban explained.

“TYS is just a fantastic program,” Covert added. “We want to do whatever we can to keep it going for as long as possible.”

The two walkers were a part of a seven-person team called ‘the church of today’ who raised over $1,100. Dressed in full costumes, the pair wanted to be the best dressed on the walk.

“It’s just eye-catching, right? People will find it more appealing if you get the joke,” laughed Corban, dressed as a banana.

The money raised in the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser will go towards TYS, an organization that has helped youth in the Battlefords for the last 36 years who faced significant challenges such as addiction, crime-related issues, and a lack of job skills.

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Alyssa.rudolph@pattisonmedia.com

by Alyssa Rudolph

Battlefords community raises nearly $55K at Coldest Night of the Year walk

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