Walking with Purpose

OIM is participating in their first Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) on February 25th.

It is very encouraging seeing the number of teams, walkers, and volunteers signing up to join us in this national event.

It is great to have a one-day event where participants come out and walk the streets to think of those less fortunate. It makes me appreciate our Street Outreach teams even more. With many faithful volunteers, OIM is able to have Street Outreach teams on the streets for nearly 365 days of the year.

With the funds raised as part of CNOY event, OIM will be able to continue purchasing much needed supplies to fill our wagons that go out each night. More than giving out these supplies like socks, underwear, sandwiches and snacks, which those on the street appreciate, it gives our volunteers a chance to interact and build a relationship with those on the street.

After many years of this relationship-building, the Red Vests worn by the volunteers are now seen as a comforting symbol to those on the street.

To prove this point I’ll share one story that happened to me one night while doing Street Outreach. One client was giving our team a bit of a hard time because he had to wait while we were trying to serve the many people that were waiting for supplies – don’t we all struggle with patience sometimes. Immediately another person in the crowd stood up for us and basically told the one giving us a hard time to back off because, in his words, “these guys are the good guys”.

There is still time to join us on February 25th. To create your own team or to volunteer, go to the following website https://cnoy.org/location/nepean

If you don’t have a team you can join the OIM team or make a donation to the team here https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=990449

~Warren, Events Co-ordinator