Brantford’s Why Not City Missions is calling on the community to join in for the Coldest Night of the Year walk, which will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2026.
Running locally for about 15 years, the walk raises awareness and funds to help reduce youth homelessness in the Brantford-Brant community.
“Coldest Night of the Year is an annual Walk, and it’s all about raising awareness and money for organizations that support homelessness and homelessness initiatives,” said Karen Stewart, executive director for Why Not City Missions. “It takes place across Canada and into the U.S., on one Saturday night in February, when it’s typically very cold.”
“Our organization has received Brantford’s Coldest Night of the Year funds for the past 15 years,” she continued. “This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and the money goes directly into programming, including our Youth Centre, Charlie’s Place for young men, and SHYP, which is Supporting Housing for Young Parents, as well as extended programming through our second-stage housing.”
While the event has previously started and ended at Mohawk Park, this year’s walk has moved downtown to Wilfrid Laurier University’s One Market building.
“It’s really exciting to be able to utilize a Laurier partnership in order to have a nice space for everybody to assemble and to gather after the walk, but this also allows us to change up our route a bit too,” she said.
Participants should arrive around 4 p.m. to check in and grab their Coldest Night of the Year toques, available to those who raise $150 or more, or $75 for those under 18. Opening remarks start at 4:45 p.m., with walkers setting off at 5 p.m. Pets are not permitted on the route for safety, as it passes through a high-traffic area.
Starting on Market Street, walkers will head east on Colborne Street toward the Why Not Youth Centre, turn left onto Park Street, then left again onto Dalhousie Street to continue south toward King Street, looping back onto Colborne Street before ending at One Market. The route is 2.5 kilometres, with an optional second loop for five.
“It’s a simple route, and Why Not will be the rest stop this year so that people can come check out the Youth Centre while they’re at it,” said Stewart. “We’ll be walking in areas where there are visible people experiencing homelessness so we want to include little care packages for participants to take along the route so if they come across someone in need, they can offer them a package. The goal is to build some empathy and a connection with the event this year.”
New to this year’s event is Bethany Creighton, Brantford Native Housing’s street and housing outreach worker, who will speak during opening remarks about connecting with people on the street.
“We want to highlight service organizations along the corridor, including Brantford Native Housing,” said Stewart. “Bethany will talk about how to have empathic and meaningful conversations with people on the street, and to help people reduce the stigma and feel more comfortable ahead of the walk. We want people to see that these are human beings who have had a terribly hard winter, and to understand that being on the street is not where people want to be.”
After the walk, participants are invited to enjoy a bowl of chili, hot drinks and a chance to mingle.
“We already have some Coldest Night of the Year toques from previous years and some snacks for the packages, but other items like socks, hand sanitizer, bars of soap, or even feminine products would be very welcome too,” said Stewart “The youth centre is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from 5 to 9 p.m. on weekends. If people can’t physically get to the youth centre, they can also e-transfer donations to donations@whynotcitymissions.com with a little memo about what it’s for, and we’ll use those funds to purchase some things for the packages as well.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
