A social service agency in Kenora is asking for donations of warm winter clothing as temperatures drop across northwestern Ontario.
Environment Canada issued cold weather alerts for parts of the region on Monday morning. Most of these warnings were lifted by Monday afternoon – except for a warning affecting the Dryden and Sioux Lookout area.
Nonetheless, the upcoming days are expected to be extremely cold in the northwest, regardless of warnings.
In Thunder Bay, for instance, daytime highs will range from -16 C to -22 C in the next few days, with overnight lows plummeting to around -30 C on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
This trend is expected in other areas too, including Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Atikokan, Red Lake, and Kenora, where daytime highs below -20 C and overnight lows colder than -30 C are predicted this week.
“We see a lot of people every day,” said Yvonne Bearbull, director of the Kenora Fellowship Centre, which runs a daily drop-in program and provides donated winter clothing to those in need.
“We’ve seen people coming in with frostbite and just trying to look for warmer clothing.”
Bearbull mentioned that the centre will remain open daily during the cold snap and recently made a post on Facebook asking for clothing donations.
“We have been having a wonderful response,” she said. “The donations that are coming are going out just as fast as they’re coming in.”
“We’re really happy that people are being able to get that extra bit of warmth and comfort.”
Bearbull noted that they’re looking for donations such as socks, footwear, coats, sweaters, pants, toques, mitts and neck warmers.
You can drop them off at the centre located on Water Street in Kenora.
“When people are coming in to drop off donations.. you can see the concern on their face,” Bearbull said. “They come and bring their donations and you know that they wish everybody well.”
“It’s come from a place of compassion and we really appreciate that,” she said. “It’s really difficult to see people coming into the centre just shivering.”
“And it’s really heartening for us to see people go out of here more prepared than they were when they came in.”
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