Where were you Thursday night as the temperature dipped to -11C degrees?
Ann Gomez spent the night walking outdoors, trying to make her way to Newmarket shelters and hoping to find a warm place to sleep.
"It was a rough night," she said.
Sleeping outside in winter is not where you would expect to find the president of a York Region corporation, but last night Gomez participated in the 9th annual 360experience — a 360kids event to rise funds and awareness for youth homelessness.
As night became day Gomez enjoyed a hot breakfast and managed to get a few hours of sleep in her own bed before heading to work -— a happy ending not afforded to homeless youth.
This was the first time Gomez, a 360kids board member, participated in the event. She knew it would be rough, she said, but it wasn't until she had to spend the night outside that "the reality that these people live really hit home."
When she arrived at the York Region Administrative Centre in Newmarket, Gomez told NewmarketToday she was feeling anxious. She was dressed for the cold with her warmest boots on and, should she need them, snow pants in her bag.
Participants were put into small teams and provided with a real-life scenario of a youth who has found themselves homeless and who has been helped by 360°kids.
Gomez and her team were a 19-year-old male with mental health issues. Because his family are in denial of his health issues, he was not on medication and was eventually thrown out of the home.
As she described her night to NewmarketToday, Gomez was having difficulty remembering her words — the lack of sleep clearly taking its toll.
After a bus ride and a 2-1/2 kilometres walk, the team arrived at Inn From the Cold's shelter between 9 and 11 p.m. After learning about the shelter, they had to make their way back.
"Two-and-a-half kilometres doesn't sound so far but in the frigid cold it was exhausting. . . I thought I was going to collapse. The thought of walking for hours and hours in the cold is pretty humbling."
Shortly before 1 a.m., Gomez and the team wanted to head further south to hand out food coupons to actual homeless youth but they were very aware that the buses would stop running for the night.
Missing the last bus meant an even longer walk back. It took longer than anticipated to get from one place to another, making the team "painfully aware" of the realty homeless youth face when navigating in the community.
"The bus was probably one of the best experiences. It was warm, it was safe," Gomez said.
With the bus terminal closed, the team tried to find a 24-hour Tim Horton's so they could get warm but aside from the drive-thru, none were open.
At about 2 a.m., they managed to find a Subway restaurant where they stayed for half-an-hour before setting off to find a bank vestibule to hunker down for the night.
Within an hour of setting up their sleeping bags in a bank vestibule, a cleaning crew began vacuuming, making sleep impossible.
After that, security arrived and told the team to leave.
In their desperation to stay warm and get some sleep, the team told the guard they were participants of a 360kids fundraiser (they even mentioned the mayor) and pleaded for 30 more minutes but the guard was unmoved by their story.
"We were well-dressed and articulate and the security would have none of it. He said no, it's private property, you gotta go. . . we're not afraid to lobby for ourselves and we were polite and respectful and it got us nowhere. Again, another reality. These poor youth who are just powerless."
The team packed up and "went back into the cold," Gomez said. "That was tough."
"My neck was cold. Anything that was exposed. Even though I had boots on, good boots, my feet were really cold, my fingers were frigid, with great mitts on... it was cold. It was cold," Gomez said.
At 4:30 a.m., there were no buses, businesses weren't open yet and there was nowhere to go, she said, so they just walked and walked.
Throughout the night she was cognizant of the number of buildings she passed and though they were shuttered for the night, she couldn't help but think they would be warm places where people could sleep.
"It just made me realize we as a society, we need to figure this out."
When recalling a man the team came across who had bandages on his hand, Gomez' voice couldn't hide her compassion.
The bandages, he explained, were due to stage-4 frostbite he got from a previous night spent outdoors.
"We hear about people who are turned away from shelters. . . these cold nights. Here it is March but what about January and February? And yet there are schools, churches, businesses. . . there are so many places that are warm and yet we as a society are not taking care of our most vulnerable. It's pretty humbling."
By 6 a.m. the cold, hungry and exhausted team made their way back to where they started to get a hot meal.
For Gomez, the experience was eye-opening, not just to the plight of the homeless but to the work that the 360kids organization does.
"As a society what are we doing? I don't know what the solution is. What I do know is that this experience has forever shifted how much I think about homelessness. I think it's important for people to go through this experience. I think it's important for people in good jobs and safe places to sleep to go through this experience so that we as a society can put more thought into this."
After her day was over, Gomez finally got a good night sleep in her comfy, warm bed but for many homeless youth it was the start of another night on the street.
The 360experience raised $360,455 from the event — more than doubling their $150,000 goal, according to marketing and communications associate Brittany Rogers who called it "a record-breaking year in terms of sign-ups and funds raised."
Donations will still be accepted for two weeks and can be made through 360kids' website.
