At the end of February, Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute and John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute participated in Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) fundraising events.
CNOY is an annual family-friendly fundraising walk that supports local charities that serve people experiencing food insecurity and homelessness. CNOY includes a 2km or 5km walk for participants. In Guelph the night benefited Hope House, where essential funds were raised to help make a difference for those in need.
GCVI makes a difference for Hope House:
At GCVI, students and staff participated in a number of ways including walking, fundraising, donating and volunteering throughout the day.
According to GCVI CNOY student co-chairs Nhi P. and Goh N., GCVI became involved in this initiative because students have “a sense of responsibility to make a positive difference in the lives of others.” This year, students in the International Baccalaureate program participated in the event and other smaller teams throughout the school also volunteered to some capacity. According to Nhi and Goh, GCVI has been participating in CNOY since 2019, and hosting the 5km kickoff since 2024.
This year, GCVI had approximately 10 students in total walking, but 35 students volunteering for the event as route marshals, volunteers at registration and check-in and as food servers.
GCVI students set the ambitious fundraising goal of $5,000 this year and met their goal by raising $5,019.67 to date. Nhi and Goh said, “this year we really wanted to set a realistic but ambitious goal, and we are super happy to have achieved it!”
GCVI would like to thank the local businesses in downtown Guelph who supported the school’s fundraising by donating prizes and services. They would also like to thank all the staff and students who generously donated money, volunteered their time or walked. They would especially like to thank the GCVI CNOY committee and Ms. Snell for helping make the event possible. Ms. Snell said, “our school community never fails to turn their compassion and care into action! Thank you to each of you who helped to make this year’s campaign such a success.”
GCVI’s fundraising efforts had them place 9th out of 80 teams that competed regionally.
John F. Ross CVI participates for the 2nd year:
GCVI wasn’t the only Guelph secondary school to host a CNOY fundraising event. John F. Ross CVI served as the starting location for the 2km walk that began at 2:00 p.m., on February 28.
Volunteering for the event was the John F. Ross CVI Student Council. The CNOY fundraiser started with a short assembly to kick off the 2km walk for the walkers in Guelph. John F. Ross CVI had student volunteers helping with the walk in several capacities, as well as a team of walkers who collected donations for Hope House.
John F. Ross CVI has a long history with Hope House through their annual FROSTY campaign. This year during FROSTY they donated $6,000 to Hope House. As a result of the CNOY fundraising, the school was happy to be able to donate an additional $1,542 to Hope House.
To learn more about Guelph’s CNOY fundraising for Hope House, click here.
Congratulations to all students and staff who were involved with the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser this year. GCVI and John F. Ross CVI, you should be very proud of your amazing fundraising efforts!
