Team Loretto supports Street Haven at the Crossroads at CNOY

The Coldest Night of the Year (CNOY) is a family-friendly walk to raise money for local charities serving people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness.

On February 25th, Team Loretto braved the cold and snowy conditions to walk 5km in Rosedale, Toronto to support Street Haven at the Crossroads. We were successful in our fundraising goals and thank our many friends who donated generously to this cause.

About Street Haven at the Crossroads

Street Haven at the Crossroads is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1965 by Peggy Ann Wapole (class of Loretto 1951).

Peggy first witnessed the debilitating effects of street life on women, young and old, while working as a registered nurse at St. Michael's Hospital. She noticed that women would be quickly seen at the hospital and then returned to the streets where the same vicious pattern would occur. In response to this need, Peggy Ann and a small core of volunteers started planning to open a drop-in centre for women.

In March of 1965 Peggy was able to procure a small rental room and turned it into a drop-in centre for women known as Street Haven at the crossroads. Within weeks the centre was open around the clock, offering coffee, sandwiches and most importantly a safe space where at-risk women were treated with dignity and provided with hope. The goal was simple: to help each woman achieve the greatest degree of independence that she was capable of at any given time.

Peggy Ann devoted her life to our community’s most vulnerable women. She was awarded the Ontario Good Citizenship Medal, was appointed a member of the Order of Canada and received the Order of Mary Ward in 2003. Peggy Ann Walpole died in 2006 but her legacy lives in the ongoing work at Street Haven, every day.

Street Haven at the Crossroads has grown into a network of services including a shelter, residential substance abuse treatment centre, a residence for women with mental illness and histories of homelessness, support for single women, outreach for long-term addiction, learning centre for remedial skills and a hostel to help homeless find housing.