The Kamloops 2016 Point-in-Time Count was partly funded by the Government of Canada's Homelessness Partnering Strategy - a Federal program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness by directly funding projects and initiatives in Kamloops and in 60 other communities.

Point-in-Time Counts are essential tools in the fight to end homelessness. Point-in-Time Counts across North America contribute data that helps us understand populations and track changes in demographics. They make it possible for us to measure change as we move towards finding long- term solutions to homelessness so that we know which of our efforts are especially effective and which require a rethinking and retooling to better help those in need. They also make it possible for individual communities to create, pool, and compare information to learn from each other’s successes and failures.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many businesses who donated items for inclusion in the backpacks that were handed out to the homeless on the day of the Count. We particularly thank NRI Distribution for donating 140 backpacks, and various clothes and socks for each. Cash donations from the Rotary Club of Kamloops and an anonymous private donor helped to add essential items such as toques, gloves, snacks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, socks and soap.

We would also like to thank the many volunteers that contributed time, enthusiasm, and empathy that helped to make the Count happen. Central to the various Counts’ success is connecting face- to-face with people who often live in isolation. Volunteers on day of the count provide people who are sleeping outside and in shelters with a backpack full of winter essentials, but they also provide them with the idea that their community cares about them. When a volunteer is able to meet a person living in homelessness and talk to them one-on-one it changes both of their lives..