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S.H.I.F.T launches annual winter fundraising effort

November 3, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Alliston Support and Hope for Individuals and Family Today, known as S.H.I.F.T., is starting its annual winter fundraising, which kicks off today (Nov. 3).

The not-for-profit organization’s goal is to raise $200,000 which is used to fund essential care and services for people experiencing homelessness, hurt, and hunger locally. 

S.H.I.F.T’s outreach program is focused on the prevention of homelessness, serving those living with low income throughout South Simcoe.

The organization has a new temporary home at The Door Youth Centre (123 Victoria Street W., Alliston). They moved there and are sharing the facility until they find a permanent home.

A portion of the money raised will be used to help find the organization a permanent home, making this year’s fundraiser more important than ever, said Liberty Visco-Flagiello, S.H.I.F.T public relations and communications Liaison.

The big night for S.H.I.F.T’s fundraising efforts is The Coldest Night of the Year walk, which occurs at shelters across the country. The walk, which is scheduled for Feb. 25, this year, gives people an idea of what it is like to be homeless for the night when the temperature drops below freezing and they don’t have a place to go.

“We do the fundraising to help the homeless and fund our programs for the year,” explained Visco-Flagiello. “November 3 is our official launch for our winter fundraising. Every year we have a ‘Coldest Night of the Year’ fundraiser. It’s a walk that happens in February on the coldest night. It happens across Canada. The launch is the start of it, to have teams starting to sign up. We have people going out into the community trying to get people involved and start their own teams, or promoting their own internal fundraising efforts at businesses. We are looking at doing a silent auction and other fundraising events.”

Visco-Flagiello continued, “We recently moved to The Door location until we find a new location. Part of our effort this year is asking people to help us find a permanent location. It should provide overnight shelter, but also short-term housing and things of that nature. We’d like people to be aware that we’ve launched the event and there will be community members coming out to local businesses and events and drumming up a lot of awareness to meet our $200,000 goal for the year.”

S.H.I.F.T. provides several different services and programs in the community including access to basic needs, harm reduction supplies, hygiene supplies, food items, and connections to local services.

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