As food and living costs and demand for help at the Trenton Care and Share Food Bank continue to skyrocket, the organization is hoping the community will answer a call for help to fight back against hunger and homelessness.
Coming up on next Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, the Coldest Night of the Year walk and fundraiser returns across the nation, bringing communities together in a show of solidarity and to raise awareness and funds for charities like food banks that help people who are hurting and experiencing hunger and homelessness.
For Trenton, the CNOY fundraiser is only in its second year, but there are high hopes to raise around $45,000.
“Last year was a very successful event,” notes Craig Olivier, general manager at the Trenton Care and Share Food Bank. “(We had) about 140 walkers (who) ended up coming that day, which was way more than we expected, which was fantastic.”
And Olivier is hoping volunteers can get residents and supporters pumped up again before the walk – but this year, he knows a lot of people are feeling the pinch.
The Trenton walk starts and ends at the food bank location at 30 Pelham St. Starting at 4 p.m., there’s the meet check-in and then at about 4:45, there’s the “muster gather” for opening remarks before the big send-off and walk starting at 5 o’clock.
The walks happen all around the country at the same time, notes Olivier.
In Trenton, a light meal and some other festivities will follow. This year, Trenton also has 2 and 5-kilometre options for participants.
For those like Olivier – and the small but mighty team of volunteers keeping the food bank running – they’re hopeful residents will answer the call as need reaches an all-time high.
There are a lot of people locally struggling with instability and in concerning situations currently – and many of them are turning to the food bank for help with hunger, shares Olivier, while also stressing homelessness also only continues to rise.
And that’s not all.
“The other part is there’s (this) hidden homelessness … (and) there are so many people (who) are just kind of hanging on by the threads and all they need is one or two misfortunes and they find themselves without secure housing and without secure food,” he explains. “We’re in kind of a precarious time right now out there, so this whole event is built around trying to raise awareness (around) that.”
Like food banks across Canada, Trenton specifically is also seeing “tremendous growth” in terms of the number of residents needing help.
Put another way, about five years ago, the food bank was serving about 250 families monthly versus up to 600, and so there are a lot of new faces coming through the door, continues Olivier.
Olivier also says the demand for help is putting pressure on volunteers to fundraise more.
Support so far from the community has been phenomenal, continues Olivier, adding that several sponsors have already stepped up to help, along with people donating food and refreshments for the actual event, cash and the like.
“That’s been important for us to be able to even put this on.”
And then there’s the volunteers.
“I mean, I cannot stress enough just the fantastic support we get in our community from volunteers (who) make this food bank run,” adds Olivier. “We’re very limited as far as employed staff and we have over 40 dedicated volunteers who work here on a weekly basis … and it just couldn’t be done without them.”
If you’re interested in helping make a difference, there’s still time to get involved ahead of the walk through fundraising, getting a team together, donating online or even signing on to volunteer on the day of the event. (This includes high school students who may be looking for some volunteer hours.)
The full lineup for the event, all the details, registration information and everything else you need to know to get involved is available via the Coldest Night of the Year website.
(Written by: Sarah Hyatt)
