'We know we have to make these bold asks': Ark Aid Street Mission launches $5M fundraising campaign

365 Days of Rest Campaign Ark Aid is launching a new campaign looking to provide 200 safe resting spaces and almost 600,000 meals. CTV London's Gerry Dewan reports.

The Ark Aid Street Mission has a new mission.

Ark Aid is launching a fundraising campaign that is more than three times larger than any previous funding drive.

The goal is to get more people off the street.

The “365 Days of Rest” campaign comes as the number of people living unsheltered on streets or in parks continues to grow.

On Thursday the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) released a report stressing the urgency.

According to Ark Aid Executive Director Sarah Campbell, "It actually told us that 25 per cent more people have fallen into homelessness since 2022, which is right during the pandemic. And that we can expect that number to double in the next ten years."

Campell told CTV News the City of London’s tracking tool indicates the number of unsheltered people in the city is approaching two thousand, "We know that the problem is getting bigger and the opportunities to fund, interventions are getting smaller."

In July London city council determined federal funding encampment funding couldn't be used for things like overnight resting spaces. They also made it clear that they were trying limit the number of resting spaces in business areas like the one on Dundas in the Old East Village.

That prompted Ark Aid to launch the 365 Days of Rest campaign, along with a YouTube video.

They’re looking to provide 200 safe resting spaces and almost 600,000 meals this year by raising five million dollars by the end of the year.

The campaign focuses on having donors commit to ongoing contributions, with the target of 50-dollar monthly payments.

Campbell believes it’s an audacious, but necessary, request, "We know we have to make these bold asks so that we can add capacity. The city funded 90 spaces. We're committed to delivering 120."

Brooklyn Noel has lived unsheltered but now has her own place. She wants to see others helped off the street, "They've been put there, a little bit, not by their own choices. But also because of circumstance, of not having anywhere to go."

Noel knows people get frustrated with those living rough but believes giving them a warm place to rest could reduce confrontational moments and address many concerns, "Sometimes people get upset. They're not normally like that. They're not normally mean or aggressive, but it's so hard to keep their selves together when their emotions are… they don't feel like anyone can help. So, they get judged on that based on the way they're acting."

Campbell said the supportive and transitional housing that's being built is welcome but helping people make the first steps off the street is imperative, "While we go for those long term solutions for housing, the permanent support and medical care that is needed, we have to catch people where they area and make sure they have the most basic of human rights, which is a warm place to put their needs."

Campbell said the Ark is also looking towards a capital campaign to create a space for additional overnight resting spaces.