MILTON-HALTON HILLS: The Community Foundation of Halton North is pleased to announce three additional grant recipients for the Emergency Community Support Fund. This week, we are announcing support for STRIDE, The Georgetown Bread Basket and The House of David.
STRIDE
STRIDE is committed to providing person centered support to empower people living with mental health and/or addiction challenges to gain and maintain meaningful employment. The grant will be used to hire an Intake Specialist. Hiring an Intake Specialist in North Halton will assist job seekers with mental health and/or addiction challenges obtain employment. This position will alleviate some of the administrative responsibilities of Employment Specialists and Employment Peer Mentors, therefore increasing STRIDE’s capacity to serve more clients and to respond to their mental health, addiction and employment needs. This role will help address the expected influx of clientele due to the increased need for mental health support related to COVID-19. “CMHA (National) recommends that Canada scale up mental health-promotion programs and supports for those experiencing new pandemic-related stress and anxiety and to stave off new demands on the system coming from the increases in depression, psychological distress, substance use, PTSD and domestic violence that almost always accompany large-scale disasters.” For more information: STRIDE
Georgetown Bread Basket
Over the past few months, the Georgetown Bread Basket has experienced a 19% rise in households served, and a 24% increase in number of visits per month. Since January, they have had a 300% increase in new clients as compared to the previous time frame in 2019 and a 20% increase in children ages O – 17. In May 2020, the Georgetown Bread Basket gave out over 28,000 pounds of food. For food security they rely heavily on the community for food drives which collect non-perishable items. To promote improved nutrition and balanced meals, they are also providing more fresh items such as fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, dairy products on a regular basis. The grant money from the Emergency Community Support Fund through the Community Foundation of Halton North will be used to purchase a cooler and to install shelving inside their walk in freezer in order to maximize space for the perishable food items they are collecting. For more information: The Georgetown Bread Basket
The House of David
The House of David, is a place of fellowship, evangelism, worship & spiritual development and growth care & community support. Meeting the needs of the minority in the community, especially those from continental Africa. They provide mentoring, access to food, accommodation and social support for new immigrants while ensuring they meet their spiritual needs. The grant money received will help offset some of the cost of the House of David’s food security initiative called Bag of Hope. For more information: The House of David
Grants are awarded on a weekly basis. More grant announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
The Community Foundation of Halton North is non-profit charitable organization. CFHN is managed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of representatives from across the communities that make up Halton North. CFHN is one of 191 Community Foundations in cities, towns and rural areas across the nation. Community Foundations will be celebrating 100 years in Canada in 2021. These locally run, public foundations play a critical role in supporting community causes. More information about CFHN is available at www.cfhn.ca or by contacting Executive Director Sue Lawrenson at 905-864-9211.