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(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

A Way Home Kamloops has raised $101,000 and counting from its fifth annual Campout To End Youth Homelessness.

Funds for 2021 are still being collected until Jan. 15.

The amount is the second-most the organization has ever raised as donations surged in 2020 to a record $150,000.

The campout was held remotely for the second year in a row due to COVID-19, but saw its highest number of participants — 68.

Among the campers, three from Urban Systems spent the night on top of Mount Todd, while Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo spent the night sleeping in a box on his back deck. Another 12 people slept outside Gateway City Church in Valleyview.

“The event continues to grow and bring more people together to raise awareness,” A Way Home Kamloops programs manager Kira Cheeseborough said.

The agency attributed the record-setting $150,000 last year to the community coming together to support the organization in the wake of former executive director Katherine McParland’s sudden death on Dec. 4, 2020.

“We knew that even $100,000 this year would be significant,” Cheeseborough said.

Prior to McParland’s death, the most money raised was $74,000 raised in 2019.

The $100,000 and counting total this year fell shy of the $250,000 goal this year, but Cheeseborough said the non-profit organization is happy with the outcome as it was hoping to raise at least that much.

Proceeds from the event will directly fund A Way Home Kamloops’ youth housing first program, with a portion being set aside for programming at Katherine’s Place, a supportive building with 39 units for youth ages 19 to 26 who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Once Katherine’s Place rises in the 500-block of Tranquille Road in North Kamloops, youth will be able to access wraparound supports to develop life skills while meeting their employment and education goals, both in the housing and through connections with supports in the community.

A Way Home Kamloops youth projects co-ordinator Daniel Galbraith said with the recent flooding across B.C., there is a renewed need for accessible housing as youth from many areas have been displaced.

In previous years, money raised from the campout went to A Way Home Kamloops’ Safe Suites program, which provides six beds for youth with around the clock support, meals and life skills for the future.

Prior to this year’s campout, a public memorial service was held to recognize the year since McParland’s passing.

Cheeseborough said it drew about 80 attendees.

“Katherine will forever hold a special place in the community’s heart, which is why we wished to extend the invite for those who want honour her memory,” Cheeseborough said.

Along with the memorial service, A Way Home Kamloops this year has established the Katherine McParland Memorial Bursary, in partnership with BC Interior Community Foundation.

The bursary will go toward at-risk youth attending post-secondary schools, with the first disbursement in 2022-2023.

The day McParland died, emergency crews were called to the 100-block of Lorne Street just after 9 a.m. for a report of “an unexpected death of a woman in her 30s,” though the death was not considered suspicious.

BC Coroners Service spokesperson Ryan Panton said the investigation into McParland’s death remains open and that a final report has yet to be issued.

— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.

News from © iNFOnews, 2021