Money to fund shelter renovation project, raise awareness for ShelterBox
Posted By JENNIFER PRITCHETT, WHIG-STANDARD STAFF WRITER
Not even a cold-weather warning could stop a group of Kingston volunteers from sleeping in tents over the weekend and braving -23 C to raise money and awareness about homelessness.
Fourteen volunteers camped out for 48 hours, beginning at 7 a. m. on Friday until the same time on Sunday.
On Friday night, temperatures dipped below -23 C. Though temperatures were warmer on Saturday night, it snowed and the wind howled.
Not exactly most peoples' idea of a fun way to spend a weekend.
Despite the extreme weather conditions, local entrepreneurs who are part of the Kingston chapter of Junior Chamber International and volunteers from the Rotary Club of Cataraqui Kingston weren't deterred.
"When you're in the tent in your sleeping bag, you're actually quite warm," said Dave Hallett, a volunteer and past president of the local Rotary Club.
To insulate himself from the cold, he wore six layers of clothing.
Overall, he said, the volunteers didn't mind the cold too much.
"When you're in the tent in your sleeping bag, you're actually quite warm."
- Dave Hallett
It was all worth it, Hallett said.
With donations still coming in, the group has so far raised more than $7,000.
The money will be donated to Interval House, a Kingston shelter for women and their children. The charity is expected to use the donation to help fund a renovation project.
The extreme weekend fundraiser also aimed to raise awareness about Interval House and a United Kingdombased charity called ShelterBox, which provides survival kits to people around the world who are left homeless by natural disasters and wars. The international charity was started in England by a member of a local Rotary Club in 2000.
Each survival box contains such items as a tent, sleeping gear, water purification tablets, cooking utensils and a stove.
A few years ago, Hallett heard about ShelterBox and has travelled overseas twice to volunteer for the charity. In October 2007, he went to Somaliland in Africa and then in June of 2008, he travelled to China to deliver survival boxes to earthquake victims.
In China, he was one of a crew of volunteers who were on the ground to deliver aid about 48 hours after the earthquake had occurred.
"There was just so much need - it was astronomical to me," Hallett said.
The overseas volunteer experience was a powerful one and he returned home to Kingston wanting to boost the profile of ShelterBox as a way to increase Canadian donations to the charity.
In the U. K., about 40% of ShelterBox donations come from within local Rotary Clubs. In Canada, Rotary Club donations make up roughly 80%of all donations to the charity.
Hallett would like to see ShelterBox become better known outside of Rotary Clubs.
So when Claire Beach from the Kingston Junior Chamber contacted him about doing a winter fundraising challenge, he jumped at the chance to raise more awareness about homelessness and ShelterBox.
Through the U. K.-based charity, he was able to get three survival kits that the Kingston volunteers could use for the event.
They ended up setting up the tents in front of City Hall in Confederation Basin.
Most meals were supplied to the volunteers from local restaurants, including the Grizzly Grill, the Sleepless Goat, Tara Foods, A&P and Boston Pizza.
Hallett said that when there was a lull in donations early Saturday evening, volunteers decided to hit the streets to visit local businesses to bring in more cash.
He said they received a positive reception from many people as they walked the streets wearing thick layers of clothing and carrying placards about ShelterBox.
Their last donation was made by a paramedic and her boyfriend out walking their dog at 2:30 a. m. on Sunday.
She told the volunteers that local paramedics had been notified about what they were doing because of the risk of frost bite during the cold-weather warning this weekend.
Luckily though, no one suffered any cold-related health problems as a result of the two-day adventure.
Article ID# 1383166
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