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Kelowna  

Push it for the homeless

The fourth annual Push to End Homelessness Race took place throughout town, starting at the Inn From the Cold shelter near Chandler St. and Sutherland Ave. and ending at Kerry Park downtown.

The event has raised between $17,000 and $20,000 for the shelter in past years and the event organizers are hoping to reach that again.

The race itself involved taking part in a number of activities placed around the city.

“You just do ridiculous challenges,” said Vanessa Kreway, event organizer. “There's one where you have to put a box onto your back and you have to get a ball into it or something, its just ridiculous.”

After the race, participants met in Kerry Park for food and live entertainment.

“We've got a BBQ for all the participants and then we invite all the street community and obviously they eat for free,” said Kreway.

Nesters Market and Urban Harvest provided all the food for the event.

The money raised from the event goes towards all of Inn from the Cold's programs with the main bulk going towards the shelter.

One of the teams in the race, The Orig“INN”als, was made up of five women who started Inn From the Cold in 1999. They were members of St. Charles Garnier Parish and based out of there, began a program to help homeless people downtown.

“We brought them in, gave them a meal, and had mats laid down on the floor,” said Pat Lever, one of the Org“INN”als members.

The program has grown since then. They now have their own place on Sutherland that can shelter 35 people. They also provide low-barrier permanent housing for eight chronically-homeless individuals.

In addition to the money raised, the event raised awareness around the issue of homelessness in Kelowna.

“We passed all sorts of people who stopped and talked to us and asked us what its all about so I think it's really helped to raise awareness,” said Lever.

Castanet expects to learn the winners of the race and the total amount raised later today.



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