Susan is part of our off-site transitional housing program. The way this program works is that the client pays the rent to the YW, and we pay the landlord. It’s a program that comes with the support of a worker, who is there to help the clients with setting and reaching their goals. Landlords on the other hand don’t have to worry about possibly not getting their rent payments etc., which is a win-win for everyone involved. Once clients complete the program, they have the option of taking over the lease.

Thank you for sharing your story with our donors and supporters, Susan!

When I entered this program, I wasn’t entirely sure what I thought would come from it, nor did I think I would gain anything substantial from being part of it. It was a means to an end; get out of my situation at the shelter, to have a real home that I could call my own. What truly helped, was being honest upon intake, about what I needed from the program, if possible. For myself, the biggest thing was accountability. I have a chronic illness, called narcolepsy. Because of this, keeping my place clean, and even sticking to self-imposed goals, were difficult tasks. The hardest part was getting into the habit of it all – setting weekly cleaning chores, making a visual list on a white board of short and long term goals, and using another white board for daily tasks that needed to be done. It took a few months, of course, but I slowly picked up the habits, and they just became routine.

This time last year, I was in a women’s shelter because of unforeseen circumstances, completely lost and hopeless.

This time last year, I was in a women’s shelter because of unforeseen circumstances, completely lost and hopeless. But now, I’m in the process of signing over a new lease with the landlord, on my own. I have an incredible apartment, lovely neighbors, a great location, and habits this program helped me create. Habits that have formed a healthier state of mind. I can see myself living here for years to come, which isn’t a place I saw myself a year ago. Coming into the program, I was dismissive about the help it could offer, but even so, I was quick to realize how wrong I had been; grateful I was wrong.

This program has given me life forming habits and mind sets; and a home.

For the first time in my life, I have my own place, and feel more than capable of leaving the program with the knowledge and habits I’ve learned, from being fortunate enough to have been part of it. Perhaps it’s just me, but there’s nothing more satisfying as an adult, than having your own place – and finally being able to look at paint swatches and aesthetic ideas, to make a place truly your own. This program has given me life forming habits and mind sets; and a home.

They welcome you as you enter the Coldest Night of the Year West Niagara walk-a-thon.

They are the friendly faces you walk by during your 5 km walk in support of the most vulnerable in West Niagara.

They fully embrace the event and the cause.

The Rotary Club of Grimsby comes out to support the walk-a-thon every year, bringing their cheer! As a long-time supporter of our West Niagara Affordable Housing program, the Rotary Club of Grimsby has gone above and beyond to help support our initiatives. Whether it involves braving the cold and being route marshals during the event, or recognizing our charity as a recipient of their Fantasy of Trees, this club truly supports the work we do in the community and we are eternally grateful. Thank you to the amazing volunteers involved with the Rotary Club of Grimsby!

My name is Jody, I am 33 years old, and I am far from perfect. I hate to admit this to you, but I don’t have to look you in the eye, so it’s ok: I currently live in the YW’s emergency shelter, along with my four-year old son. His name is Leo, and he is my everything. I am here for him. For him, I am doing everything I can to get us out of this mess. I am an alcoholic. I don’t want to blame it all on grief, it’s my own weakness that got me here, but when I lost my husband three years ago, I stopped functioning. It was a car accident that took him away from me. A moment in time. I had no idea how much he had held me together, until he was gone. I wanted to be strong for Leo, I really did. But the drinking was the only thing that made the pain go away. And I so much just needed it to go away.

The drinking was the beginning of the end. It lost me my job, my home, and now I have officially lost the support from everyone I know and love. Turns out, even the people with the biggest hearts will let you surf their couch and interrupt their lives for only so long. So here we are, in a shelter.

“Why are we leaving Aunt Dana’s house?”

“Where are we, mommy? What is this place?”

“Will we stay here forever?”

I wish he stopped asking questions. I wish I had better answers. The truth is, coming here has actually been amazing for him. Thanks to the Women’s Advocates and the other guests, I feel more supported and heard than I have in a long time. The woman next door has a daughter his age, and they play together with the toys that they have here. Everybody loves new toys, right! I am not sure for how long his little friend will be here but for now, it’s good for him to have some company, someone his age. The woman who works in the kitchen gave him a brand-new lunch pale, and the Women’s Advocate gave him a new backpack. He couldn’t wait to show those off at Kindergarten. It’s these little things that have given me hope. They make me feel like I have made the right decision for him by coming here. For myself, it has meant access to counseling, and the first few nights in a long time when I didn’t have to worry about where to sleep and what to eat. I know this is only the beginning, my Support Worker keeps telling me so. I know that Leo and I still have a long road ahead. But today, he is happy, and we are safe, and I have people around me who get it. People, who don’t judge me.

I want to thank you for caring about women like myself, for caring about my son. I hope that one day, when I am out of here and when I am well, I can give back to the YW in the way you do. It was such a hard decision for me to come here, but I am so glad I did. I don’t know where I would be today without the YW and without your help. Thank you.  – Jody, current guest at our Shelter

At the beginning of 2019, we introduced you to our client Macie. We shared with you what brought her to our doors initially, and how much she had thrived in her first few months in our Off-Site Transitional Housing program. Today, she asked us to tell each of you, who support our work in so many wonderful ways, that she is continuing to reach her goals, and that she is incredibly grateful for you cheering her on.

Macie is now 21 years old and she has successfully completed the time in our Off-Site Transitional Housing program. Thanks to her strong will and determination, she was able to reach each and every short- and long-term goal she had set with her Support Worker along the way. Macie will be taking over a new lease with the landlord at her current home on September 1^st and the YW will be stepping back. She will finally be truly independent.

Macie has also been accepted to the post-secondary school of her choice. She is extremely excited to be going back to school, and to pick up where she was forced to leave off. Along with all of this, Macie is working a full-time job that she enjoys, and she continues to volunteer with other refugee claimants coming into the country. She is incredibly resilient despite all of the barriers she faced this past year. We hope you will stay in touch, Macie, we cannot wait to see what the future holds for you!

Our support does not end here. Although aftercare is not covered by our funding, our team will continue to be in her corner. If she ever finds herself needing any kind of support again, we will be here. On days when our work feels like a drop in the bucket, with an ever-growing housing crisis and a shocking lack of affordable housing, it is clients like Macie who remind us why we do what we do. We could not do it without each and every one of you and your support. Thank you!

Alexis was first introduced to the YW’s work when her sister completed a practicum placement with us, which better introduced her to the YW’s work and mission. At around the same time, she attended her first Niagara Leadership Summit for Women.

The Leadership Summit was a great experience, and she “was hooked.” After putting out a call to action to donate to the YW at Christmas time, she then became determined to become more involved in the YW’s work. She joined the Niagara Leadership Summit for Women planning committee the following Fall.

“I love the sense of community and support that the YW offers,” says Alexis. “The staff and volunteers are committed to creating a thriving community and it radiates throughout their work, making for an empowering and fulfilling volunteer experience. Volunteering with the YWCA has been an eye-opening experience, the organization is truly a pillar for women and families in the Niagara community!”

PenFinancial Credit Union chooses to support the community & YWCA Niagara Region

At a recent celebration, PenFi made it official! They launched their “truly local commitment,” a commitment to a values-based banking model. “We believe that people who want to do business with a financial co-operative that reinvests 10% of their pre-tax profits back into their community, will be interested to learn more about PenFinancial Credit Union,” says Ken Janzen, CEO of PenFi. “We are a Living Wage champion, we commit to procuring 100% locally and inject socially responsible ideas into our products and services.”

What does that have to do with the YW?

We wanted to tell you a little bit more about PenFi and their truly local commitment because they have supported the women and families we serve in a number of different ways over the past few months. In October, we were not only the recipients of the proceeds of their Community ATM, but they also came on board as the Lead Sponsor for our Niagara Leadership Summit for Women. It’s an empowering day all about celebrating women and feminism. It was another wonderful event, thanks to PenFi’s support.

The YW was also one of the recipients of PenFi’s “Compassion Wheel.” New members who opened accounts at their new Fourth Avenue branch, were invited to spin the wheel, and the credit union donated $100 on their behalf, to one of 12 partner organizations.

Most recently, PenFi has joined our YW FACES campaign as the Presenting Sponsor. We don’t want to give away too much about this unique project just yet, but we can tell you that it will be launched at In The Soil, on June 7th. We have been working on this awareness campaign with local image maker Michal Pasco for the past year. PenFi’s sponsorship allows us to grow it into something amazing.

Corporate Citizenship comes in many shapes and forms. PenFi is proof that there is room for creativity and fun when supporting local charities. Thank you for your truly local commitment, and thank you for supporting homeless women and families here in Niagara.

Check out their website here: https://www.penfinancial.com/Personal/

The noise hits me like a brick wall when I walk into the room. The after-school program is at full speed already. Children are running around and little voices are bouncing off the yellow walls.

“Am I doing it right?”

“I need help!”

And then a girl who might be ten years old looks straight at me, eyebrows raised: “And who are you?”

After School Matters

“After School Matters” is a United Way initiative that brings free programming to neighborhoods that don’t offer a lot of activities for kids to be engaged in. A number of local agencies are involved in facilitating these programs, including the YW. While our Skills Development Team brings workshops to schools all throughout the region all week, After School Matters is a great way for our social workers to support kids once they are back in their own environment, away from the school context.

A stream of water beads is rolling off the table at the end of the room like a colourful waterfall. Myles, who I learn is a regular at the program, sports a cheeky grin that spreads all over his face. He sits away from the other kids because Myles, I learn this too, has a mind of his own.

“Jenna is taking all the beads!!!” A small girl with beautiful big, brown eyes and an even bigger voice is outraged at her friend’s sins and is making sure everybody in the room knows about it. Noella, one of our Skills Development Workers, gives a faint smile and tries to mediate. Today, the kids are making stress balls. The boys are sitting at their own table because who wants to sit with the girls when you’re ten years old! They’re trying hard to look too cool for the arts and crafts but when they don’t feel watched, I see them gently funneling the beads into the plastic bottle and blowing up the balloon with great care to get it to just the right size before pouring the beads into it.

Myles has somehow gotten a hold of the scissors and is cutting his plastic bottle in half.

“Stressed Neighbourhoods”

These kids live in what we call a “stressed neighbourhood”. I’m not a fan of labels but what I think it is trying to describe is that this neighbourhood is not the kind that has basketball and hockey nets in every driveway, along with a truck and an SUV. The townhouses are small and I have no doubt that if one family decides to crank up the tunes while doing the dishes, their neighbours will know it. It’s a neighbourhood that might be “stressed” but also one where kids create a special bond, speak their own language and whether by choice or not, are independent in a way I barely see in other kids their age.

My thoughts get interrupted when Myles walks past me making a big point of a) not looking me in the eye and b) obnoxiously chewing on something. I watch him stride through the room to the garbage bin where he spits out the balloon he has been chewing on. He is trying to look indifferent, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary to see here, but he doesn’t quite manage to cover up the smirk when he sees the shock on my face.

Turns out, kids are just kids

When I decided to check out what this After School Matters program was all about, I was nervous. I don’t know what I was expecting when I heard “stressed neighbourhood” – an eight-year old boy pointing a gun at me? A little girl smoking a joint? Whatever it was, it dissipated the second I walked into that crazy loud and busy room and reality hit me as hard as the sound of their high-pitched voices: they’re just kids.

Maybe they’re a bit louder than the average kid their age because their families tend to be bigger. Maybe they have a bit more “sass” than other kids, maybe their eyes look like they’re carrying more than they should but then again, maybe that is just what I think I am supposed to see rather than what I do see.

Their problem is not that they are growing up in that particular neighbourhood.

What their problem is is that more than half of the kids in the room will be discriminated against all throughout their lives simply because of the colour of their skin. Their problem is that half of the kids in the room are going to have to work that much harder to get that promotion when they grow up, simply because they are girls. Myles is a black boy with a learning disability. Are we ready to give him equal opportunity? All of their barriers will double and triple if a single kid in that room decides to not identify with their gender or if they make choices around their sexuality that society doesn’t agree with. Their problem is that in only a few years, we will stop caring because they won’t be small and cute anymore.

When Noella asked Jenna what she wanted for Christmas at the end of last year, she answered: “That my daddy will stop drinking.”

Are we still going to be there for Jenna in five years? When perhaps daddy’s drinking becomes too much to bear and she decides to leave? Will we ask her then how she got here or will we just see another lazy, dirty homeless person playing the guitar outside the Farmer’s Market?

Let’s do better.

When I tell people where I work, I can physically feel some of my friends and family members suppressing the want and need to judge the women and families we serve.

That has to stop.

And I include myself in this because challenging our own bias is an on-going, never-ending journey, for you, and for myself.

When the program comes to an end, another unthinkable thing happens: the kids just pack up and go home! No parent is waiting in their car, or texting or calling, they just head out in little groups and go back to their lives. As for myself, I can’t help but think of my own kids on my drive home. They have not earned to be better off. I don’t work harder or try harder than Jenna’s dad. I just happen to not be struggling with addiction. At least not today.

Childrens’ homelessness does not happen in a vaccuum. Children are homeless because parents are homeless. As we are striving to become a compassionate city, a compassionate Niagara, we have to care about everyone, regardless of colour, age, appearances. I am not perfect and neither are you, so my request is simple. Let’s just try. One judgement at a time. Let’s try harder, care more, assume less. If we want kids to have a home, we need to start with their parents.

Franziska Emslie
Community and Public Relations at the YWCA Niagara Region