The Executive Director of the Perth Huron United way says this year's Coldest Night of the Year event in Goderich was a huge success.
Ryan Erb says last year was the first year for the event and they set a goal of forty-thousand dollars and were delighted to almost hit fifty-thousand dollars. Erb says they hoped they could do as well this year they and they came up just short of ninety-thousand dollars. Erb says the funding will all go to support the homelessness initiative in the Goderich area.
"What that means is we will be supporting the shelter, of course, that's operating out of the local United Church. We will continue to support the housing advocate. This is a position that was new last year and the job of this person is to help people who are experiencing homelessness to find permanent housing and that's been fantastic."
United Way will also support Safe Homes for Youth and the Women's Shelter in Goderich.
Erb adds, they're also supporting a new project.
"Finally, we're helping a new project, The Urgent Needs Fund for individuals so that we can continue that, sort of beyond just the pandemic time, because we know that there's great need for people that have access to funding for things like groceries or medication and so forth. The pandemic isn't over."
Event sponsors included Scotiabank and Ideal Supply, the Town of Goderich, the Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh and the West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance Company.
