The Windsor Zombie Walk was started by local youth Jakub Witalec, 21, in 2006.

“Originally we started to promote geek culture and just to have fun and what it turned into was a massive force for goodness,” said Witalec.

“We have an opportunity to really help people and we’re taking full advantage of that to make sure that as much good comes out of this as possible.”

Zombie participants brought canned goods, which were donated to the Windsor Food Coalition, a division of the Windsor Homes Coalition. In 1970, two Catholic priests and two United Church ministers met to discuss Windsor’s most needy, and what might be done to help them. In 1975 Windsor Homes Coalition Inc. was created as a non-profit provider of clean, affordable housing.

“I went because I thought it would be fun to dress up like a zombie and then when I found out it was for charity too, it seemed even better,” said Dayna Poisson,18, a journalism student at St. Clair College. “And I think it’s a great idea. It’s definitely something I’ve never heard of before and it seems like it really attracted some attention.”

According to Witalec, the walk keeps growing every year.

“This is all just people with ideas,” said Witalec. “Make something happen, get your friends together and make something beautiful, and hopefully… if you work as hard as you possibly can then people might start noticing and contributing themselves. They might get a lot out of it and if you can inspire one person to do something fantastic for somebody else, then your time is completely valuable, its completely worth the effort.”  

Many passersby said they were impressed with the number of people, especially youth, that showed up to help the hungry people of Windsor.

“The situation is unfortunate but that’s why we need more and more people to start making things happen and to start turning things around,” said Witalec.

(Ward, 19, is a journalism student at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ont. Read her full profile at youthspeaknews.org)