Bradford's Out of the Cold Cafe is grilling up some festivities this weekend.
The charitable organization is hosting a barbecue at their 31 Frederick St. location on Saturday, June 17, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., to raise funds for their transition to a new location on Oct. 15.
For $5, attendees can enjoy a hamburger with a beverage and bag of chips, plus music and face painting.
On top of that, Mayor James Leduc, Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper, and two local real estate franchise owners — Louise Batista (List with Louise) and Haida Kostyra (RE/MAX Crosstown) — are all willing to take the plunge in a dunk tank.
Anyone interested in exercising their throwing arm can pay $5 for three balls, or if they really want to make things interesting, they can pay $10 for three chances to dunk their dad this Father’s Day weekend.
Bring a bathing suit — just in case.
Several local businesses are donating the food for the event and the cafe is hoping at least 200 people will attend.
“If we could see $2,000 come in, that would be a great success, and anything over that would be just super exciting,” Jodi Greenstreet, executive director at WOW Living said.
While she expressed excitement at having the cafe move into a new location, she cautioned that the exact spot can’t be revealed until later this month.
Greenstreet was able to share that the transition comes with a five-fold increase in rent, and significant renovation costs.
“The units we’re moving into are all unfinished, so we have to do everything from flooring to walls, electrical, HVAC, engineered drawings — all of these things add up so quickly,” she said.
The charity estimates that it will need to raise $150,000 in only 125 days.
“It’s astronomical. For a small charity to raise that much money, we need everyone coming out,” Greenstreet said.
She praised the local business community for helping cover the cost of rent through key holder sponsorships, in which 12 businesses/groups each cover one month of rent for the charity, including:
- Big Yellow Bins
- Reali’s No Frills
- Dominion Farms
- Gwillimdale Farms
- The Co-operators — Torrejon Financial Inc.
- Business Tech Ninjas
- RE/MAX Crosstown Realty Inc.
- Mortgage Edge — Debbie Viveiros
- Doug and Brenda Weening
- The Out Of The Cold Cafe Volunteer Team (50 people each committing five dollars a month for 12 months)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
“We wanted to see if we could get all the rent covered before we signed the lease agreement and we had that covered within a month,” Greenstreet said.
Four other local businesses and community members are also contributing $1,200 a year to support the cafe’s needs. They include Nancy’s Nifty Nook, Jeanny Salmon Therapy & Clinical Services and two anonymous donors.
Bradford Out of the Cold Cafe has operated in partnership with CrossTrainers Canada since 2020 and serves one meal a day to anywhere between 28 and 50 people in need in the community.
The meals are provided through local restaurants, like Perfect SZN, Hay Caramba! and Little Caesars as well as local church groups like Holy Martyrs of Japan.
Additionally, Starbucks donates leftovers every day of the week.
“People can come in and get a meal that’s prepared,” Greenstreet said.
She stressed that it’s not just food though, as the facility also provides a reprieve for those seeking shelter.
“People can come in and just stay. We have people that come in every day that are homeless ... and some of them just rest, just close their eyes because it’s safe and it’s warm,” Greenstreet said.
The other thing that the cafe offers is resources, whether that’s housing support or an overnight shelter.
Those unable to attend the event, but who still wish to donate, can visit wow-living.ca.
