Inn From The Cold is hosting a high tea Sept. 25 for its fundraising campaign to build a new facility in Newmarket.
The event at the Armoury in Aurora will support the $2.5-million All Inn! campaign, which aims to address the homelessness that is "a serious, growing crisis in our community that affects us all through increased violence, criminal activity, addiction and health concerns," according to the capital campaign website.
Inn From The Cold is constructing a new facility by the end of 2024. The 16,000-square-foot building will include transitional housing units with 18 beds, emergency shelter space for 26 people, and room for programming.
While a portion of land for the new shelter on Yonge Street has been donated by the Town of Newmarket, $2.5 million is required to fund the project.
In York Region, 400 people are homeless, with many more at risk. Only one per cent of rentals in the region are vacant. The wait affordable housing is about 11 years, the shelter said.
Mayor John Taylor is chair of the campaign, leading a team of volunteer community and business leaders.
"Housing affordability has reached a crisis point in York Region. The pandemic and now the rise of inflation have put more people at risk of homelessness. I believe we must provide housing options for every resident of Newmarket. Shelter and transitional housing are part of what defines a complete and caring community. Please support Inn From the Cold and together we will end homelessness," he said.
The high tea is the first fundraiser of the capital campaign and is being organized by Inn From The Cold staff. The idea to hold a tea came from the assistant cook.
"She just came into my office one day and said 'I don't know a lot about fundraising, but I have all these ideas of things that we can do,'" said Ann Watson, executive director at the Inn.
She said the staff are volunteering their time to put this event together and they "are really excited about having a new location and being able to do more, particularly in the transitional housing side. So this is really their effort to contribute to that campaign."
Inn From The Cold has held other fundraisers in the past like walkathons and golf tournaments but Watson said she hopes this one will reach more people who might not have been interested in those kinds of fundraisers.
"It really resonated with us that that we could do something like this and something fun for people that we might not have reached before," she said.
It will also be the first time Inn From The Cold hosts an event in Aurora which Watson said is another opportunity to connect with more people and businesses.
Tickets to the high tea, which is from noon to 3 p.m., are $100 per person and can be bought by contacting [email protected] or 905-895-8889 x 221. There are also sponsorship opportunities available for businesses.
You can donate to the campaign online.
Editor's note: This article was changed to correct the anticipated opening of the new shelter and transitional housing facility.
