Communities across Canada will be taking part in Toque Tuesday, which is being held on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
Volunteers will be selling toques to raise funds to fight homelessness.
"We are going to be at Royal City Centre, Douglas College and the New Westminster Public Library," said Dave Brown, community services manager of the Lookout Emergency Aid Society. "We are going to have people out and about at SkyTrain stations in highvolume hours."
Employees at the Starbucks at Sixth and Columbia have offered to wear toques on Monday and Tuesday to promote the event.
"They are really pumping it up about Toque Tuesday," Brown said. "They are very community minded."
Toque Tuesday, launched in Toronto in 1997, is being celebrated from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Raising the Roof organizes the annual event.
"All the money is going to youth homelessness this year," Brown said of two programs that will receive the proceeds from funds raised locally. "They are wonderful programs."
Volunteers will be found at locations around the city from about 6: 30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 7.
Two styles of toques are for sale this year - the black toque that was available last year and a new red skateboard type toque with a checkerboard pattern.
"The toques are still a $10 minimum donation," Brown said. "If anyone wants to donate more than $10, that would be gladly accepted."
Tax receipts are available to anyone donating $25 or more.
"New West is wonderful, especially the seniors. The seniors blow me away," Brown said of support for Toque Tuesday in past years. "The youth take to it too. ...They take to it like ducks to water."
Toque Tuesday welcomes volunteers, even if they only have an hour to spare.
To volunteer, call Dave Brown at the Lookout Emergency Aid Society at 778-288-8887.
tmcmanus@ royalcityrecord.com
