Milton community walks - #cnoy16

It was phenomenal to stand in the Milton Sports Centre hall amidst the electrifying buzz as people queued up to register with the 10 registration desks for our 3rd Coldest Night of the Year. 

Well done Milton. You should be very proud of yourselves.

Milton Transitional Housing Event Directors, Lorna Turner & Margot Johnson celebrate exceeding our $40,000 #cnoy16 goal.

We had six local councillors, our local MP, sponsors, media, volunteers and those so young they could barely walk to those have walked wiles of Milton pavements in the lifetimes. Just extraordinary.

Indira Naidoo-Harris, Milton MP welcomes back walkers to theMilton Sports Centre and praising the incredible sense of community.

More than 50% of businesses and charities cease to exist within 3-years. Milton Transitional Housing meanwhile continues to expand in the roots in the community. It was fabulous to see the kids thoroughly enjoying themselves, aided by cake at Sobeys!

Empty Bowls sponsor Lynn Dickinson, Simply Creative, goes all out!

It was amazing to witness not just in the Milton Sports Centre but in the knowledge that the first walks set out at 3.45pm ET in Newfoundland and Labrador and that at 8.15pm ET those of Vancouver Island were just stepping out. An incredible 92 communities the breadth of Canada out there walking in balmy mild weather in support of those at risk of homelessness. At 6pm we were trending on Twitter!

It is important to remind ourselves why we were all out there walking the streets of Milton to raise both funds and awareness of those at risk of homelessness in our community and others across Canada.

Wendy Schau helps describe exactly why Milton Transitional Housing is important for those at risk of homelessness.

The Coldest Night of the Year scoreboard showed 83% towards its $4million target. The money is anticipated to keep rolling in, so the target remains achievable.

The national scorecard

We could not have run this event without the generosity of our sponsors and all the volunteers. Lorna Turner and Margot Johnson however do utterly deserve to be singled out and we are all inspired by their dedication, excellence and passion. Thank you ladies.

Thanks to all our incredible sponsors

There are lots of photos on the Milton Transitional Housing Facebook page. You can look back at out @MiltonTH1 tweets or search #cnoy16 to see activity across Canada.

"MTH has brought back the light of inspiration to me"

This is the inspiration message from a Milton Mom, reported in the Milton Canadian Champion. The Mom attributes getting herself and son back on their feet to Milton Transitional Housing.

The story by Julie Slack, a reporter at the Milton Canadian Champion, is so incredibly uplifting to all those with the foresight and passion to establish Milton Transitional Housing. It makes all the hard work worthwhile and all those involved, those who have volunteered and supported in any way should feel very proud ...and perhaps a little tearful.

Read the Kathy's story here.

Thank you to Kathy, Julie, Donna for bringing us this moving piece and inspiring message.

The Canadian Champion story also presents facts about homelessness in Milton and encourages us to participate in the amazing Coldest Night of the Year walk on Saturday February 20th.

To register now go to https://coldestnightoftheyear.org/location/milton.

CNOY Launch Party today

Come down to our Coldest Night of the Year launch party today at the Milton Sports Centre from 1.30pm.

The launch party runs today Saturday, January 9 between 1:30-3:00pm in the Banquet Room of the Milton Sports Centre. Bring all of your friends and family too. We will have snacks, snowflake crafts, snowball (indoor) games and prizes galore for the kids.

Come and register your team or volunteer to help

The Milton COLDEST NIGHT WALK this year is on Saturday, February 20 with registration from 4–5pm (along with team photos, games and snacks), and the walk itself will start at 5:15 from the Milton Sports Center (Banquet Room). We’ll walk through the Willmott neighbourhood. After your walk there will be warm drinks, hot soup and sweet treats waiting for you back in the Banquet Room.

Register to walk NOW

Promote #cnoy16 on social media

Show you support for Coldest Night of Year across Canada by using hashtag #cnoy16 across all social media platforms.

Please share this post.

Coldest Night of the Year 2016

Giving Tuesday provided a great platform for the launch of Coldest Night of the Year 2016 which takes place on Saturday February 20, 2016.



Here is my Opencity Inc Charity Spotlight blog post about Blue Sea Philanthropy who run the nationwide Coldest Night of the Year campaign. Milton Transitional Housing will again be one of the partner charities.

There will be more information through the MTH Facebook page.

Inspiring Housing... Our Future forum

The first Milton Transitional Housing (MTH) forum titled HOUSING... OUR FUTURE was a wonderful exploration from multiple agencies on the need for affordable housing solutions in both Milton and across Canada. There is a clear gap with a 0.5% rental vacancy rate in Milton.

"75% of those affected by homelessness have children under 18"

said keynote speaker Brain Carney, CEO of Blue Sea Philanthropy.

Carney gave a very personal, open, honest account of his journey. He gave multiple examples demonstrating that this is a Canadian wide issue. "Money invested in housing solutions is better", he stated. "You are not alone. Other people are bothered too... Housing matters".

The forum including a distinguished group of panelists that included Alyssa Gremmen Program Manager of the POSSE project, social worker Jason Palmer from MTH, Melissa Hillier Client Services Supervisor at Halton Women's Place described how they had to turn away more than 400 women last year due to lack of capacity, Amber Armstrong Employment Support Worker at Community Living Burlington outlined the special work of Housing Alternatives Network Directive (HAND) supporting those families with developmental needs, and Maureen Andrews from Toronto Regional Police Service where she is Regional Controller for Commande. Andrews reflected;

"Helping one person at a time is really rewarding"

The work of these agencies, including Milton Transitional Housing is making a difference. Four people have now formally graduated from Milton Transitional Housing and achieved independent living. In these four years, MTH has helped 9 adults and 7 children, including those currently in the program. Carney's own perception is that MTH has "been punching above its weight and age".

Blue Sea Philanthropy are the charitable organization, based in Kitchener, behind the Coldest Night of the Year event. The date for the 2016 Coldest Night was also announced - February 20th, 2016. Tell your friends, family and community.

The forum was made possible through the Ontario Trillium Foundation grant. Congratulations to Donna Danielle for an excellent job hosting the speakers and the wider communication team and volunteers on such an important and well run event.

Look out for further coverage in the Milton Canadian Champion. There will also be a Charity Spotlight about Blue Sea Philanthropy on the Opencityinc.com blog in the coming weeks. You can review more from the forum by search #MTHforum2015 on Twitter. According to Hashtracking.com this created 27,000 impressions on Twitter.