Excuse Tim Farquharson for humming over and over the tune to a familiar Elton John song, but he’s still standing — and now he’s got great company in the form of cash and goods for three Peterborough homeless shelters.
Peterborough’s deputy police chief, joined by members of his Peterborough Cares support team, announced Wednesday (January 31) that his ‘Stand With Tim’ fundraiser brought in $10,392.45 — $3,464.15 each for Brock Mission, YES Shelter for Youth and Families, and The Warming Room.
On Friday, January 26th at 4 p.m., Farquharson began a 12-hour stay on the southwest corner of King and George streets, not only to raise money for the three shelters but also awareness of their services and, more notably, their need of community support.
Stand With Tim, as the fundraiser was billed, accomplished each of those goals.
“We were hoping to have a few thousand dollars … we had $3,000 when we started,” said Farquharson, clearly overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the initiative — support that included performances by a number of Peterborough musicians and the presence of members of The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment.
“Having young people, people from the bars, was actually good. I thought it might be a little rougher than it was. They were great. Probably seven out of 10 gave money.
“A lot of people said it would have been nicer if it was minus 25”, Farquharson said, referring to the relatively mild temperature overnight last Friday. “We wouldn’t have got a fraction of the money we did nor the awareness because nobody would have been out.”
While thrilled with the total raised, Farquharson later admitted to not being surprised.
“It’s Peterborough, right? People are just incredible.”
Lindsay Mitchell, who did much of the grunt work on the event alongside Peterborough Cares founder Camille Parent, echoed that sentiment.
“This is a special community. It really is. Everything that even starts as a grassroots event somehow snowballs into something big. The outpouring of community was mind-blowing.”
Representatives of each of the shelter beneficiaries were on hand for the announcement. Along with the cash, they divided a number of donated clothing items among them.
“The awareness piece is really huge; it’s as valuable as the actual cash,” said Bill McNabb, executive director of Brock Mission, noting the shelter has to raise $120,000 a year “to keep the doors open.”
“The funding we get from the City pays for the staffing but we have to pay for everything else…rent, hydro, food, all the necessities. This is a good day.”
Christian Harvey, director of The Warming Room, was equally thrilled.
“Homelessness will only end if we, as a community, work together. A donation like this shows how more and more people care about the issue. The more people are aware, the more change is possible. We need, as a community, as a country, to change our perceptions of homelessness.”
“If someone donates to homelessness, they’re going to tell someone. There’s going to be a conversation that starts around that. The more conversations that happen, the more, in upcoming elections, people will be asking candidates ‘What are you going to do around this?’ That matters.”
The largest single contribution to the final tally came from the Peterborough Police Service in the form of $1,500.
“We (City police) have always been champions of issues around poverty, homelessness, mental health .. .that’s what we do and we’re committed to it,” said Peterborough Police Chief Murray Rodd, crediting Peterborough Cares, and Farquharson in particular, with doing “God’s work.”
Joining Parent was the Peterborough Cares team comprised of Tim Burke, Darcy Bonner, Donna Mackay, and Mitchell. He said the roots of this fundraiser were planted years ago when he sat in on a homelessness-related meeting with Farquharson.
“Tim had a strong passion for the homeless, as I did. I said ‘We need to connect and do something.” I never forgot about that. I gave Tim a call and kind of figured he’d pass the buck to someone else. I didn’t know he would do this. I was just so touched.”
Although not set in stone, the plan is do the fundraiser again, possibly as early as this November.
