BC Housing is all about home: making a positive difference in people’s lives and communities through safe, affordable, and quality housing. This organization goes above and beyond the idea of simply putting people in rooms, focusing instead on creating meaningful spaces for people to live, and to live well. That means thinking outside the house-shaped box to partner with organizations and community partners that make a huge difference in the lives of those who need housing support. 

Uncommonly Intentional 

When it comes to their life-changing work, BC Housing takes a forward-thinking approach that’s creative, adaptive, and flexible. They are trusting, collaborative, and open, well aware that providing a home to everyone who needs one is a community endeavour. These are more than words on a website – BC Housing truly puts their money where their vision is. 

Having sponsored a number of Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) charity partners in the past, BC Housing decided to take a bigger step. CNOY is an annual family-friendly walk held in February to raise money for local charities who serve people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness. For 2023, BC Housing wanted to give more, create more impact, and find a way to reach more local neighbourhoods throughout the province. They worked with Jim Heuving, our Manager of Corporate and Community Partnerships, to develop a granting process that delivered BIG results.

Blue Sea + BC = Big Change 

Through our partnership, BC Housing has granted a total of $53,000 to 26 CNOY charity partners, adding early momentum to charities’ campaign scoreboards and real impact to their continued ability to serve the community.

For BC Housing, this partnership was simple: 

“The CNOY campaign aligns with our values and we want to be more involved,” said Vincent Tong, Acting CEO, BC Housing. “Through initiatives like this, we continue the vital work of providing safe, secure housing to people who need it most.”

For us at Blue Sea, we are so thankful to be part of a movement that helps link local charities with regional, provincial, and national organizations that want to help the hungry, hurting, and homeless. “We exist to help charities fundraise successfully,” says Jim Heuving. “Thank you to BC Housing for their vision and commitment to making real and meaningful changes in BC communities. Perhaps more importantly, thank you to our incredible charity partners who show up day in and day out to offer warm meals, warm beds, and warm smiles to those who need it most.”

“BC Housing provided early sponsorship support to our Burnaby CNOY which created some great encouragement and early momentum to our fundraising efforts. The funds raised through our CNOY allow us to continue to expand our services to meet the growing needs of our vulnerable community members.” – Carol-Ann Flanagan, The Society to End Homelessness in Burnaby and Alex Monroe, Burnaby Community Services.

Stronger Communities, Together

Building a safer, happier, warmer province is only possible when people care. CNOY is a way to bring these people together and help them make change, together. When tireless charities, dedicated walkers, generous donors, and big-hearted organizations join hands in CNOY’s highly successful fundraising program, big change is possible. Nationally, the CNOY 2023 campaign is well on its way to hitting its $12,000,000 fundraising goal. These funds fuel countless stories of housing, healing, food, dignity, impact, and kindness. We are so grateful to help make this happen, because, what better story is there to tell? 

For more information about BC Housing, please visit: https://www.bchousing.org/

For more information about CNOY’s Corporate and Community Challenge, please visit cnoy.org/challenge or contact Jim Heuving at challenge@bluesea.org

For Skyline Group of Companies, “corporate social responsibility” is not simply something to check off a to-do list. It is proactively imagining – and re-imagining – ways to develop, support, and engage strong communities across Canada.

There’s No Place Like Home

The importance of home cannot be overstated. Having a place to come home to each day, a space that feels safe and where you can gather with your nearest and dearest, is a core human need. For the leaders at Skyline, providing Canadians with places to call home is what drives them each day.

Skyline began as a property management company in Guelph, Ontario. Since 1999, it has bloomed into a national organization with several divisions and alternative investment funds promoting sustainability on all levels. It  believes in building and supporting strong communities.

With an eye on environmental, social, and governance sustainability, Skyline is invested in creating and maintaining thriving, vibrant communities for its residents, employees, and community members.

 Skyline knows first-hand that home can be a complicated concept: job changes, medical situations, and a litany of unexpected circumstances can make paying the rent hard, and staying well even harder. If a Skyline tenant is going through these circumstances, Skyline’s team does all it can to ensure the tenant stays housed.

As Skyline expanded across the country, it took a pulse check on its giving strategy, asking: as a national organization, how can we meaningfully support the individual communities we serve?

Enter Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY).

National Generosity Meets Local Impact

Coldest Night of the Year unlocked a new way for Skyline to fundraise and support local charities while enabling all Skyline staff to share a nationwide experience. CNOY allows Skyline staff to team up and compete against other Skyline locations across the country  in an effort to raise the most money for those in need. For Skyline, CNOY:

• delivers a national campaign with profoundly local engagement.
• creates opportunities for employees to make a difference in their local community.
• raises critical funds for local charities that directly contribute to stronger, safer, and healthier communities.

Plus, Skyline really puts its money where its passion is: it matches all CNOY fundraising – meaning every $1 is really $2 – motivating other teams and organizations to step up their efforts!

All in all, it’s a perfect fit.

CNOY: Everything Skyline Needs to Make a Difference

According to Skyline, perhaps the best part about its annual CNOY campaign is the organizational ease of… well, everything! The resources, emails, social media, and team tools given to all CNOY teams makes the “work” of getting up and running almost non-existent. Team captains can focus on fundraising, team building, and results. Skyline has everything it needs to empower its people to do the very work they love doing: building communities where people can thrive.

CNOY was just what Skyline needed to make a huge national impact. With each year, the campaign gains momentum, interest, and engagement, driving up Skyline’s fundraising to an incredible $63,672.56, doubled and then invested back in local communities. What felt impossible was made possible by this perfectly paired partnership of CNOY and Skyline.

If your organization is ready to think big and engage meaningfully, CNOY is ready to make it easy for you, too! We challenge you to get your people moving and support the needs of communities across Canada, making a true impact in the places where you live and work. Challenge accepted?

Many Canadian churches are eager to be the presence of Christ in the world – kind, compassionate and generous. But they wonder, “how can we show up and do something to positively impact our neighbours? How can we step out of our buildings and into our community?” For some big-hearted Anglican churches in St. Catharines, Ontario, the Coldest Night of the Year became their cold, bold, and creative way to do just that.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Matthew 25:35-36

For many Christians (and many charities too), Matthew chapter 25 is an underlying foundation for their charitable efforts. This well-known parable is impossible to read by anyone, regardless of faith, without serious self-reflection. It asks us to evaluate our hearts and our actions. What are we doing to make a difference? How are we showing up in the world, whether in faith or in duty? 

For the Anglicans in Action (AIC) of St. Catharines, their lives of faith and these nagging questions were the reason they decided to participate in the Coldest Night of the Year. 

The Gathering of Hearts

The Anglican church exists in a parish model – with each church having their own community of souls to care for. While the St. Catharines parishes were siloed, many among them longed to work together to be a tangible presence of God’s love in the community. This desire sparked a meeting of like-minded parishioners, intent on finding a way forward. 

The group that gathered aptly named themselves Anglicans in Action. Even though they came from different churches, they were all interested in grassroots, charitable, tangible action that would bring about positive change in the local community. Seeking to be those who show up, notice, and do something. But with no shortage of ways to engage or issues to address, beginning was easier said than done. 

A Way Forward

Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) provided the bridge for Anglicans in Action to galvanize action and get going! In their early days, they walked in support of Start Me Up Niagara – a charitable organization who offers services and programs to individuals who face significant life challenges to provide them with opportunities to stabilize, participate, and grow. 

Start Me Up Niagara has had a robust relationship with Coldest Night of the Year for a decade or more, so they were ready and able to welcome new and eager teams – exactly like Anglicans in Action. And Blue Sea had everything set up for the Anglicans in Action team leaders to move forward with. One team leader, Diane, reflected:

“It’s very well coordinated. It’s very easy to be part of. It’s very easy to be the team leader, with the website and resources, it’s easy to coordinate even through COVID. We used a few videos and off it went. And it’s a great family event.”

By gathering around a cause that was city-wide, rather than parish-centric, CNOY facilitated the momentum needed to set the group on a long journey of showing up, noticing, and doing. By staying connected to CNOY, Anglicans in Action got to know organizations, build teams, and keep walking – for the last 7 years raising more than $204,500 since. 

Today, Anglicans in Action feeds over 1,000 people/week with food kits they prepare for a local food bank, whom they connected with through CNOY. What started as a walk and desire for impact turned into just that: daily food for the hungry. It was the very heart of the hope, the action that mattered most. 

Prepared For You 

Reflecting God’s love to a community is easier said than done for a church, and yet Anglicans in Action knew it was exactly what they needed to do. Churches need effective and engaging tools to mobilize their congregation of faithful people who long to follow the example of Christ: Feeding the hungry. Satiating the thirsty. Welcoming the strangers. Clothing those in need. Caring for the sick. Visiting the imprisoned. 

It’s time to do exactly that: show up, notice, and do.

The Challenge is a great way to hit two birds with one stone: it enables you to engage local businesses, churches, and community organizations while also finding new teams and fundraisers. 

Now, I don’t go around throwing rocks at birds, but I do love this “two birds” principle. My father mentored me with a similar principle in our family bakery, “Why take two steps to do a job, when you can do it in one?” His words continue to challenge me every day. How do I make the most of the time and energy I have? 

Let’s apply this principle to team recruitment for your p2p fundraising event:

The Key to Success

Instead of hunting one bird at a time, go to where the birds hangout. Don’t misunderstand me, door-to-door, individual asks will always be effective, but, as you know, it is time consuming. A key recruitment strategy is to find places where many birds hangout together and spend time there. These are opportunities for you to connect with folks in a meaningful manner – en masse. 

Opportunity-Rich Watering Holes? Local Networking Groups. 

Professionals, business owners, and church leaders often join business networks, clubs, and community associations in order to develop relationships, gain referrals, and participate in shared efforts. You can join these same networks and clubs to achieve these same goals: build relationships, recruit captains and challengers, find sponsors and donors, and gain referrals for all of the above.

I’ve seen this strategy in action. In December 2022, Valerie Louter, from the Ontario-based charity Neighbour to Neighbour (N2N), invited me to a business networking breakfast. In that single meeting, I watched as N2N received multiple donations and a CNOY team commitment that far exceeded the cost of her annual membership and time. Moreover, it warmed up a number of leaders who will welcome her when she knocks on their door for greater engagement in the future. #tweettweet

Popular Networking Groups to Consider

What networks should you target? Think:

• Chambers of Commerce
• Business Improvement Associations
• Rotary Clubs
• Lions Clubs
• Kiwanis Clubs 
• Community Associations
• Business Networking International (BNl)
• Mastermind Groups
• Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) 

If you are unfamiliar with, or new to, the area, read the weekly local newspaper where you will find them mentioned in pics and stories. Check websites like MeetUp.com or EventBrite.com and search for networking groups in your area. With a little looking around, you’ll likely find a group that’s perfect for you – whether you’re an early bird or a night owl! 

Take Action Now

Now is the perfect time to start your bird hunt:

In the short term: Choose one or more groups in your area and reach out to the Chair or President (find their email address on their website or send a DM on LinkedIn). Ask to present your CNOY, RIDE, or TGP ask to their group leading up to this year’s campaign. Be sure to tell them why it’s important and, wherever possible, connect your charity’s mission with their group’s mission. 

In the long term: Join a thriving networking group. Lean into the cause and invest in building relationships. An added benefit: once you bring value to one network, you will be introduced to new networks.

The Challenge is a unique offering from Blue Sea Foundation. It’s the perfect opportunity for your organization to build awareness, buzz, and help turn community-minded people into deeply committed advocates for your charity. Find the right groups, tell them what you’re doing, and they’ll be like a duck to water. The best part, with strategies like the one outlined above, you can get more people, more invested with less time and fewer costs, leaving you as happy as a lark!

Your job can be a lot of things: stressful, engaging, fulfilling, mundane, exhausting, challenging, uplifting to name a few. Mostly, it can be work. Work AND life can be any of those things on any given day. Showing up in the good, the bad, and the ugly is possible when you work with great people and for an amazing organization. You show up knowing that yes – there is a job to do – but you matter too. That’s when the job offers a lot more than just work. It offers safety, connection, and impact. That’s Starbucks.

Infused Goodness

For Starbucks, caring about their employees – which they call partners – is infused in everything they do.

It’s in their mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time. It’s the pump of goodness they add to every hand-crafted relationship – authentic care.

That care isn’t just lip service:

• It helps partners who are far from home find a family.
• It reassures someone having a hard day that they can cry during their break and still be and feel safe.

And that same care ensures that when a group of partners want to give back, they won’t wonder if the organization is behind them – they know they are.

Partners In Action

Revved up on more than just coffee, a group of Starbucks partners in Durham Region (east of Toronto) had a simple desire: to make a difference. But, like most people with big hearts, figuring out how to help (there is so much to do) was a huge first step. A venti sized first step. Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) offered an open door to explore local organizations doing the exact kind of work they wanted to support. One place in particular, The Refuge, stood out:

The Refuge works with youth who are experiencing homelessness or are at-risk of experiencing homelessness, and who are struggling. Built on a foundation of holistic care offering food, housing, and community, The Refuge is a space youth can find community, safety, belonging, and a renewed hope for the future.

The Refuge was working with local youth who could be looking for a warm seat and a smile, or a job someday. “When we started to dig into what The Refuge was all about, it hit home,” shares Bryan, the Team Captain at Starbucks. The mission of The Refuge deeply inspired the action, because the Starbucks partners had learned, felt, and experienced the difference a caring, welcoming environment makes in their daily work. It was everything.

The partners knew they might be the first – or only – smile someone sees that day. They are one of the few people who truly cares when they ask a guest, “how are you?” They could be the single person to look someone in the eyes that day. The partners didn’t wonder what difference a warm, safe, welcoming place was. They already knew, and they wanted there to be more.

One More Step

The most powerful part of the story is that it kept going; it wasn’t just one year or a small group of partners. What started as a small group in 2019 became a whole crew of invested and engaged partners, teaming up to raise tens of thousands of life-changing dollars.

Last year, this team of Durham-based Starbucks partners visited The Refuge, met with the leadership team and were floored by the incredible work being done in their backyards. There was more to do – much more. This spurred District Manager, Bryan Kendall, and his team to recruit more partners to join the team, and more new donors. Using their creativity and the support of their store, they got to work:

• They joyfully egged each other on and kept lively tabs on the donation leaderboard.
• They encouraged each other, and every other partner on the team, with a tidal wave of support.

More than $20,000 later (!!), coupled with Neighbourhood Grants from the Starbucks Foundation (even MORE community impact) the Starbucks team helped The Refuge purchase a second facility offering scores of new beds and housing options for local youth. That’s some truly delicious, real change.

Partnered for Impact

The CNOY Challenge creates a space and place where Starbucks partners can unleash their energy, enthusiasm, and generosity. With simple, engaging, and streamlined systems, these partners turned dreams into reality.

We took this step together with our Starbucks partners and you can too. All organizations can make a huge difference, and if you are ready to engage, the CNOY team is ready to fill your cup with options, resources, and real impact. Let’s come together and be the change!

Turkstra Lumber doesn’t simply sell building supplies, they’re actively engaged in building communities across Ontario. The team at Turkstra have adopted the Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) fundraiser as one of their signature employee engagement initiatives. Every year they challenge staff and management in retail locations across the province to raise funds for people experiencing hurt, hunger and homelessness. And boy-oh-boy, do these Turkstra teams rise to the challenge! For the last 5 years, Turkstra Lumber has been a top-two Challenge Partner, raising over $151,000 (and counting!). 

What’s the secret to Turkstra’s fundraising success? How does participating in the CNOY Challenge deliver benefits to their corporate culture and help improve employee satisfaction? You’re about to find out! 

An Invitation to Walk

In 2017, some folks from Turkstra were asked by a customer to walk in a little thing called the Coldest Night of the Year. They were told something along the lines of, “it’s a super fun fundraiser… we walk at night to experience a little taste of what it might be like to live on the streets, then we warm up with homemade chili. Very fun, very easy.” So, they gave it a try. They zipped up their coats, donned their toques, and raised $2,635 as a team. Perhaps more importantly, they heard more about how homelessness was impacting their community.

Little did they know, that February night was going to be the start of something truly amazing! 

Inspired by this cold, snowy CNOY walk, Turkstra leadership issued a challenge to the ENTIRE organization: let’s make our communities a little bit better, a little bit kinder, and a whole lot warmer. The following year, all 11 locations were challenged to form teams with their co-workers and families and raise funds to support local charities. With hundreds of events around Canada, every Turkstra Lumber store was conveniently located in a “CNOY city,” meaning each store team would be fundraising for a truly LOCAL charity. 

Sure, head office could *just* donate the cash, but leadership saw this as more than a simple CSR strategy. They wanted to mobilize the incredible spirit, passion, and dedication they saw in their staff – for a good cause! Turkstra’s leadership predicted that including a fun, charitable activity into the workplace milieu would also improve employee engagement, foster a broader sense of community between staff, customers and vendors, and of course make a real difference in the lives of those around them. 

The result? Eight teams signed up and swiftly surpassed their initial $10,000 goal, fundraising $16,500! The friendly internal competition sparked something in the Turkstra teams – as predicted, these passionate people pushed one another to be even better. 

Leveling Up 

Gearing up for their 2020 fundraising campaign, the leadership team at Turkstra Lumber asked themselves the same question that has made them one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for the last 5 years: what can we do better? The answer was a wellspring of staff-led, grassroots ideas for building more awareness, getting more people involved, and raising more money. 

• Committed staff came up with creative ways to fundraise – some were bold “askers”, some made & sold cupcakes, others worked with the marketing team to help organize partnership events. 
• Did you happen to see the limited-edition Hamilton Tiger-Cats toques and fleece blankets only sold at Turkstra Lumber? If you bought one, then you supported CNOY, as ALL proceeds went directly to those in need.

• The spirit was infectious. Staff, customers, and vendors were asking how to donate before the fundraising officially began. 
• Stores rivalled one another in fiery-but-friendly competition (we see you, Waterdown and Dundas locations!) – strategically updating their numbers at the last minute with video messages that always “inspired” the others to get creative.
• Company-wide emails kept the conversation lively and celebrated top fundraisers, while new branch members were integrated into the spirit of the challenge and the camaraderie of the organization.  

By 2022, Turkstra Lumber had 11 teams registered, 50 walkers braving the cold, and over $50,000 in fundraising on the leaderboard. More than that, they had a province-wide team of employees who’d never felt closer or more engaged. Participating in CNOY created opportunities for employees to talk, connect, and learn more about one another. It enabled them to band together to out-fundraise their now-rival stores, and gave them a chance to work together on fun, new initiatives. It gave them an event to look forward to in bleak-old-blah-blah February, and a chance to celebrate over those now beloved chili bowls with their co-workers and families. Participating in CNOY helped create a sense of community in, and between, Turkstra’s many locations. 

Build-It-Better

Turkstra Lumber is no ordinary building supply store. They are a group of smart, creative, generous people who want to help their communities thrive. Partnering with the CNOY Challenge has helped them strengthen their corporate culture while creating real change in their various trading areas. It’s a heart-warming (and hand-warming) story that we’re happy to share. 

For more information on Turkstra Lumber, check out their website here. For more information on the CNOY challenge, pop on over to cnoy.com/challenge for all the details!

“I’ll go for a walk.”

It’s that simple. That simple, but with serious impact. 

For Rotarian Cathy Harrop in Norfolk County, Ontario, that statement, “I’ll go for a walk” was her first step (pun intended!) in participating in the 2022 Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY).

Her second step? Just as easy: “Anybody want to go with me?” 

A few short weeks later saw Cathy and a team of 15 friends-turned-teammates raising $10,198.84 for a local charity and hitting the trail on their behalf. That’s over $10,000 of life-changing funds.

In her own words, “It was just… easy.” 

The Heart of Action 

Simplicity is at the heart of action. Give someone (or a group of someones!) one or two small, actionable, simple steps – that’s where their “yes” lives. Think of the “how did you get started?” stories you’ve heard: it was a walk, a phone call, a conversation, an invitation. Blue Sea’s P2P fundraising campaigns are built to facilitate that simple choice: I’ll walk, I’ll ride, I’ll help. 

In Cathy’s case, it all began one morning at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Norfolk Sunrise. Daniel Avey, the director of Youth Unlimited YFC Norfolk, a charity that works with homeless youth, was the speaker. The necessity of the need couldn’t be more obvious: children and youth should have shelter, safe spaces, and food. When Daniel mentioned that their charity was participating in the Coldest Night of the Year – virtually due to COVID-19 – Cathy’s response was simple: of course she’d walk, and hoped others would join her.

All of these wins hinge on Daniel showing up at that Rotary meeting. That was his simple step. Both groups need each other. Rotary wants to help, Youth Unlimited is looking for support. CNOY was the bridge they needed to make that happen.

Service Over Self

The Rotary Club has a motto: Service Over Self. The more Club members heard from Daniel, the clearer the opportunity for service became. They are exactly the kind of group equipped and able to support change because Rotary Club members are all about a better community. All about Service Over Self. 

Norfolk Sunrise Rotary Club members all show up for that very reason: to make a tangible difference in their community. For some, they want to set a better example for their kids. Others come because they have heard and seen the difference Rotary makes and want to do the same. For others still, in their retirement, they have all that work-energy to bring to volunteer initiatives. Whatever the reason, they all show up to build a better Norfolk County.

Then They Walked

Cathy put out her simple ask, “will you go with me?,” and the rest fell into place. They raised funds, they got organized, and walked on a local trail in support of Youth Unlimited. As simple, and as profound, as that. 

CNOY was everything they needed it to be. “Blue Sea has it all set up – people thanked me for organizing the team, but I didn’t really do much. It was all there,” Cathy shared. A blink of an eye saw a team of 15 walkers and $10,000 fundraised in a matter of weeks, not months. 

54 Rotary Clubs participated in CNOY 2022, each supporting a local charity in their community. Together they raised exactly $188,256.13, nearly doubling the previous year total of $99,279.39. That’s nation-wide momentum with enormous local impact. That’s what CNOY is all about. 

A Simple Step

It’s a simple step, really. Are you a community member with the drive to make a difference? Take a step. A simple, profound, trajectory-changing step to work with others and see the change unfurl.