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A social service agency in Kenora has put out a call for donations of warm winter clothing as temperatures plunge across northwestern Ontario.
Environment Canada issued cold weather warnings for some of the region on Monday morning. Most of those had been lifted by Monday afternoon — except for a warning affecting the Dryden and Sioux Lookout area.
However, the next few days are going to be very cold in the northwest, regardless of warnings.
In Thunder Bay, for example, daytime highs will range from -16 C to -22 C in the coming days, with overnight lows dropping to around -30 C on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
That trend holds for other parts of the region as well, including the Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Atikokan, Red Lake, and Kenora areas, where daytime highs below -20 C and overnight lows colder than -30 C are forecasted 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 offers donated winter clothing to those in need.
“We’ve seen people coming in with frostbite and just trying to look for warmer clothing.”
Bearbull said the centre will be open daily during the cold snap, and recently put out a call on Facebook looking 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 said the centre is looking for donations of things like socks, footwear, coats, sweaters, pants, toques, mitts and neck warmers.
They can be dropped off at the centre, which is 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.”
