This March, eastern Idahoans will have an opportunity to raise awareness for the homeless in a fun outdoor event.
On Saturday, March 15, the annual Walk in the Cold will take place at the WaterFront at Snake River Landing. It is a 5K race, with awards to be won in many categories: Fastest Man, Fastest Woman, Fastest Teen (13-18 years old), Largest Team, Best Team Name, and Best Dressed.
The event first began in 2019. Tyler Perkins, executive director of the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, said the idea came from Todd Wood, a staff member who liked to run.
“We were thinking of a clever way to have an event to get people involved,” he said, “and also thinking of a way to do something fun for the community to come out and enjoy doing it with their families.”
Perkins said Wood thought it would be unique to have the Walk in the Cold to raise awareness of what it’s like to be out in the cold for the homeless.
The first year had a great turnout, with a couple hundred members of the community participating. Then the event was put on hold for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then restarted in 2022.
“We finally solidified the location until we outgrow it,” Perkins said. “It really depends on the amount of people who show up. But it will be more similar to last year than the other years as far as location and the path and the entire experience. We’re excited about that.”
Perkins said raising awareness is important as there’s not much exposure to the homelessness issue in Idaho Falls.
“The reason it’s so unseen is because we have community partners and organizations like ours that are working really hard to handle that so the city can stay safe and clean,” he said.
The rescue mission tries to help in many ways, since a lot of circumstances can factor into homelessness, such as food insecurity, domestic violence, addiction, release from prison, divorce, or illness.
“When you’re wrapping resources around an individual, we’re not just focused on one thing like hunger, or recovery, or housing, or domestic violence,” Perkins said. “We’re involving all of those things regardless of what the issue is. Trying to take care of all those things and give them a safe, sober space where they can 100% focus on the plan to become sustainable or get out of a bad situation.”
The rescue mission and other community partners provide housing options, such as a single men’s shelter, a single women’s shelter, a family shelter, and a women and children shelter.
Perkins said if people in the community want to get involved, they could visit the rescue mission to learn more.
“There’s a lot going on, so the best thing someone could do is actually come down and ask questions or go to our website and call us and talk to us,” he said. “Come and ask questions, take a tour, find out what’s going on in the community. We love giving tours and we’re very transparent.”
To learn more about the Walk in the Cold or the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, visit walkinthecold.com or ifrescuemission.org.