Kindred Credit Union Charitable Fund Announces 2023 Grant Recipients

$7,500 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Staying Home: Empowering & Equipping Newcomer Families in Maintaining Secure Housing
Waterloo, ON
adventure4change.org

Many newcomer and refugee families face an urgent housing crisis. Centred within a Housing First framework, Staying Home focuses on prevention and social justice, ensuring vulnerable families are adequately housed. This project will provide intentional counseling, advocacy and workshops, while equipping individuals to make informed decisions and maintain their housing.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Community Food Security
Project: Growing Gardeners
Hamilton, ON
arocha.ca

A Rocha Canada envisions the transformation of local communities by inspiring hope and caring for creation. The Growing Gardeners program will provide fresh produce for those in need while teaching children how to grow food. Funds will also be used to purchase garden supplies and help with hiring a staff member.

$8,500 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Aurora House
Toronto, ON
aurorahouse.ca

Aurora house strives to provide shelter, long-term trauma counselling, basic needs, and support services to those who have been trafficked, exploited or abused. Funds will help provide women with young children and expecting mothers shelter, long-term counselling and other essential supports to those who rely on services during their healing.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Financial Empowerment
Project: The Poverty Professors
Kitchener, ON
alivecommunity.ca

Awareness of Low-Income Voices educates the public about the impact of poverty on peoples- lives, to inform the public about the needed changes in policy, and to share information on available resources that may not be well known. The Poverty Professors is an interactive and mobile educational program that aims to educate the general public about poverty realities. Funds will contribute to helping educate community groups, faith groups, and governmental forums leading to an increased understanding for others and empowerment for those living in poverty.

$2,500 grant
Theme: Financial Empowerment
Project: Start Up
Kitchener, ON
branchesforhope.ca

Branches for Hope is a start up program supporting a community where people can live judgment free and are given opportunities to collaboratively live out hopes and dreams. The funds will help create a paid peer outreach program, where those with lived expertise in being justice-involved can help those attempting to leave a system and lifestyle that no longer serves them. Funding will help to cover basic operational costs and emergency care packs to service users in need.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Tiny Home Community
Leamington, ON
thebridgeyouth.ca

The Bridge Youth Resource Centre serves youth between the ages of 14-24 with programming centred around education, job support, mental health and addiction services, life and coping skills, and social inclusion activities. Funds will help complete the initial phase of building 12 tiny home housing units including appliances and furnishings.

$7,500 grant
Theme: Community Food Security
Project: Food
Cambridge, ON
cambridgefoodbank.org

The Cambridge Food Bank has an increasing need to offer culturally appropriate food. Many New Canadian neighbours choose not to take foods that do not align with their dietary needs. Funds will supply these families with an equitable food resource experience regardless of dietary need when accessing our food bank. This grant will purchase Halal meat, fish, and yogurt.

$9,000 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Waterloo Region Home Share with Youth
Kitchener, ON
cjiwr.com

Community Justice Initiatives of Waterloo Region is a volunteer based organization seeks to inspire safe, healthy, and peaceful communities where all conflict is resolved in a restorative way. The Youth Home Share program provides a process that leads to dignified and affordable housing for youth, while also benefitting those who are sharing their homes. The program works in partnership with Family and Children Services to facilitate the home sharing process to youth who are interested in co-housing with each other, or with a home share provider. Funds will provide staffing support for the program.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: The Rebuild Project
Elora
elorahouse.com

Elora Road Christian Fellowship provides safe housing and support for individuals who identify as women, and who are victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Fund will be designated towards the launch of The Rebuild Project, providing more support to survivors throughout their second-stage recovery journey. These supports will help end re-victimization and the cycle of abuse through education, resume building, housing, therapeutic and clinical programs.

$2,500 grant
Theme: Indigenous Justice and Reconciliation
Project: Indigenous engagement for performance of Water: An Environmental Oratorio
Kitchener
grandphilchoir.com

The Grand Philharmonic Choir is a vibrant, diverse, well respected family of choirs that enrich the cultural life of our community. “Water: an Environmental Oratorio" will be performed May 28, 2023. It tells the story of a community struggling to protect its water supply, whose leaders draw inspiration from Anishinaabe traditions of protecting natural resources. Funds support working with Indigenous educators and consultants to educate performers on Indigenous traditions and culture they will be singing about. In addition, a series of videos will be recorded on proper pronunciation of Indigenous languages.

$3,500 grant
Theme: Financial Empowerment
Project: Free Tax Clinic
Guelph, ON
hopehouseguelph.ca

Hope House operates and advocates the belief that poverty, food insecurity, inequality, health, and community are all interconnected. Funds will support hiring a permanent Tax Clinic Coordinator to assist volunteers who prepare taxes for community members so they may be eligible for government benefits and housing assistance. Hiring a Tax Clinic Coordinator will allow Hope House to provide more tax services helping more people in need qualify for government assistance or housing.

$2,500 grant
Theme: Community Food Security
Project: St. Peter's Church Project - Kitchen
Kitchener, ON
indwell.ca

Indwell creates affordable housing communities supporting people seeking health, wellness and belonging opportunities for individuals with histories of serious mental health issues, homelessness and housing instability. Funds will contribute to helping operate a commercial kitchen including meals and a food security program. Program skills include budgeting, food preparation and learning to make healthy choices are encouraged. Activities may include cooking groups and nutrition programs being offered to help tenants develop the skills to move towards the ability to live more independently.

$4,500 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Affordable Housing Solutions Lab
St. Jacobs, ON
Leadership Waterloo Region

Leadership Waterloo Region encourages, empowers, and equips current and future leaders to unleash positive change in their communities. The Affordable Housing Solutions Lab project brings 80+ community stakeholders together around a complex problem and involves students working through a process designed to breed systems innovation. Design thinking, community/systems mapping and enhanced problem solving lead each class to produce solutions to alleviate some of our community’s affordable housing issues. Funding will help engage those with lived experience, some of the most vulnerable in our community, to participate in the project.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Community Food Security
Project: Crock Pot Program
Brantford, ON
standrewsbrantford.com/margotsplace

Funding will help continue the Margot’s Place Crock Pot program aiming to teach new and/or young moms healthy cooking skills. The program provides participants with a Crock Pot and teaches them recipes they can recreate at home for their families. This 4-week program focuses on several health-related topics, such as food safety, Canada-s Food Guide, dietician visit, label reading, sodium, eating well on a budget, stress and coping, and positive parenting.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Financial Empowerment
Project: Child-Minding for Supportive Housing Program Mothers
Guelph, ON
michaelhouse.ca

Michael House’s Supportive Housing Program provides stable, secure housing, education, and employment readiness training to young, parenting women and their children experiencing domestic violence, addiction issues, and poverty. Their goal is to help women become financially stable and move into the community independently. Funds will support hiring a childcare provider to supervise the residents’ children when they are in programming, allowing mothers to fully participate and receive the benefits of programming.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Pilot Project to Set-up Apartments for Newly-Arrived Refugee Families
Ottawa
omraottawa.org

OMRA works to provide rent subsidies to newly arrived newcomer (refugee) families for 1-4 years, with a priority to helping woman at risk and small families. Funds will be used to conduct a one-year pilot project that will provide household start-up kits and gently-used furniture to clients. These kits are valued up to $750 and include all the living essentials for families to create a complete home.

$5,000 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Residence Maintenance and Expansion
Mississauga, ON
rjho.ca

Restorative Justice Housing Ontario provides safe, secure, and affordable housing (up to four years), to former prisoners who are now ready to make positive contributions to their communities. The program eases the housing barrier for those in transition which often leads to homelessness or re-offending. Funds will help to increase the number of individuals the program can support through two new resident home locations in the GTA.

$4,500 grant
Theme: Community Food Security
Project: Increase in Packaging Expenses
Leamington, ON
swogleaners.ca

Southwestern Ontario Gleaners Gleaners takes non-marketable local produce and turns it into a dehydrated soup mix. This soup mix is then donated to other local and international charities to distribute to people in need of a nutritious meal. Funds will support the increased costs associated with packaging materials. Packaging includes description labels for overseas meals, boxes, and bags to package soup mixes.

$7,500 grant
Theme: Safe and Affordable Housing
Project: Restorative Community: A Better Tent City Pilot Project
Kitchener, ON

Residents, staff and volunteers of A Better Tent City will work with Community Justice Initiatives in establishing circles of support to create a culture of restorative justice, differing from other hierarchical and punitive approaches to conflict resolution. This project will result in a stronger, more cohesive community, and residents will feel empowered as they develop their capacity to resolve conflict in a good way and to collaborate to create a safer home.