WCRI Supportive Housing is now accepting new applications 

Through a unique partnership with WoodGreen, Fife House and The Wellesley Institute, The Wellesley Central Residence Inc. (WCRI) opened its doors in August 2008.  Located on the grounds of the old Wellesley Hospital, The WCRI is specifically designed to accommodate both seniors in need of moderate support for day-to-day living, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The WCRI is the first of its kind in Canada.

The First Ever Paul Croutch Awards Presented at the Day of the Homeless

 

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 25, 2011) -

The recipients of the first ever Good Neighbours' Club Paul Croutch Awards, sponsored by TD Bank Group, were co-presented this morning by Dan Demers, VP Distribution Support, TD Canada Trust and Good Neighbours' Club Executive Director Dr. Bruno Scorsone at the Third Annual Day of the Homeless, sponsored by The Daniels Corporation at The Good Neighbours' Club at Jarvis and Shuter. The winners are: Judy Graves, The Advocate for the Homeless for the City of Vancouver; Brian F.C. Smith, the President and CEO of WoodGreen Community Services; Laura Cowan, The Executive Director of Toronto's Street Health Community Nursing Foundation; and Whole Foods Market, which was selected for recognition by club members grateful for their donation of nutritious and delicious food.
 The Event was hosted by Roger Petersen, Citytv - CityNews Tonight Anchor, and featured Senator Art Eggleton, Joe Tilley, Sports Anchor, CTV News Toronto, Sheldon Levy, the President of Ryerson University, Hon Glen Murray MPP, Good Neighbours' Club Board Chair, Adrienne McLennan, Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, and Mitchell Cohen, President, The Daniels Corporation. The Paul Croutch Awards were named in honour of a Good Neighbours' Club member, a former journalist, who died after being beaten by intoxicated soldiers from a nearby armoury in August, 2005.
 "No one organization or city can solve homelessness on its own," said Adrienne McLennan, Chair of The Good Neighbours' Club board. "Through The Good Neighbours' Club Paul Croutch Awards, we hope to encourage everyone engaged in the fight against homelessness and extreme poverty, including ourselves, to look up from our own work now and again, and be inspired by those taking a new or different approach to some very old problems."
 The Good Neighbours' Club is a Toronto charity, a day centre dedicated to the homeless or marginally-housed man who is 50+ and trying to find his way back to a normal life. By the time he is 50, a homeless man is aged well beyond his years. He is also vulnerable to attack by younger men. No other Toronto charity is so uniquely equipped to deal with the daytime needs of the homeless man over 50.
 "As Gandhi said, 'a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.' The Good Neighbours' Club is the closest thing to a home that many of our men will ever have," said Henry Botchford, a former executive officer in a number of major organizations before long-term illness brought the Club into his life. "The club gives dignity along with many of the things you take for granted, if you've never been homeless or marginally housed. We appreciate the work done by the organizations that received the Paul Croutch Award today. It was good of TD and Daniels Corporation to help make this very important day happen for our Club."
 Founded in 1933 and located at Jarvis and Shuter, The Good Neighbours' Club members have faced the despair of downsizing or have lost everything due to illness, addiction, poor choices or bad luck. They receive new, donated clothes and have access to mail services, showers, laundry facilities, hot meals, phones, televisions, games, computers, a weekly medical clinic staffed by Street Health nurses, a safe place to lock up valuables…and compassion. The club also provides final arrangements for members whose bodies would otherwise go unclaimed.
 Funded largely by the United Way of Greater Toronto, the Ontario Ministry of Health and the City of Toronto, The Good Neighbours' Club is assisted by the Daily Bread Food Bank, Second Harvest, Whole Foods Market and Torontonians who realize that these men could be their fathers, their brothers, their sons or even themselves. For more information about The Good Neighbours' Club please visit www.goodneighboursclub.org.

WoodGreen's 2011 Tax Clinics Returns $550,000 Back to Community Through Tax Refunds!

WoodGreen offers a FREE tax clinic every year at our 815 Danforth Avenue location. The Tax Clinic helps low income singles, who make up to $25,000 annually, and families who make up to $30,000 annually, file their tax return quickly and accurately. The Tax Clinic runs three days per week, from March 1 – April 30, and is fully staffed by volunteers with an accounting background. Volunteers are trained by Revenue Canada, and they complete the entire filing process on behalf of the clients.

This year’s Tax Clinic was another great success thanks to WoodGreen staff and volunteers:

• During WoodGreen’s 2011 free tax clinic, volunteers processed returns for more than 1,000 people
• The average annual income of the clients we served was $11,796.88
• The average refund amount of each tax return was $566.20
• In total, $550,821.15 was returned to low income individuals and families through their tax refunds

The chatr Give Happy, Give Back event raises $10,000 for WoodGreen! 

A huge thank you to all those who came down to Queen Subway Station on December 8th, 2010, to the Give Happy, Give Back event to raise money for WoodGreen.  1,000 chatr phones were given away to raise over $4,000 in generous donations to help those in need.  A special thank you to chatr wireless, who topped up the donations raised to a total of $10,000 for WoodGreen, in addition to chatr phones with six months of service for our employment program, that helps thousands of Torontonians who are in need to find meaningful employment each year. The phones will help the people searching for work so that they never miss a call from a potential employer and have confidence in the job search process. Thanks chatr!

WoodGreen Client Satisfaction Survey

In September 2010, WoodGreen asked clients to speak out, and you did. Within a ten-day period, close to a thousand clients responded to our client satisfaction survey, letting us know how we are doing. We want to thank you for your great participation, positive comments and helpful suggestions!

WoodGreen's services are incredibly diverse, as are the clients we serve. The common thread that ties our many programs together is our commitment to be an excellent cornerstone service provider.

The results of this survey will ensure WoodGreen continues to improve, to innovate, and to serve you better. Right now, program managers and unit directors are developing plans to respond to the issues highlighted by the survey, and improvements are already underway.

See the results here: 2010 WoodGreen Client Satisfaction Survey.  

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Brian Smith, WoodGreen President & CEO presented Rebecca Ramsey with the Leonard Darwen Memorial Award at Ryerson’s School of Urban and Regional Planning Award ceremony on October 26th.

WoodGreen supports local young people by handing out two annual awards in memory of two young WoodGreen staff members.

The Kevin Yedon Community Service Award was awarded to Cavina Tsoi at Riverdale Collegiate Institute on October 29th.
 

WoodGreen Thanks Betty Augaitis, Outgoing Board Chair

On behalf of the Board and the organization, I would like to take just a few moments to recognize Betty Augaitis for her remarkable contribution to WoodGreen.

Betty has just completed her two-year term as Chair of the Board - a term marked by her strong leadership skills and passion for all things WoodGreen. Our Board and the organization have improved in so many ways under Betty.

Today, our Board stands stronger, due to Betty`s focus on recruiting directors for their skills and diversity, and improving our Board orientation, education and evaluation programs. She also oversaw a complete review of our Board policies, updating of WoodGreen`s vision, mission and values, and shepherding in of our new strategic plan focused on social innovation.

Betty also spent considerable time working with the new WoodGreen Foundation, ensuring a smooth operating relationship between it and WoodGreen Community Services.
If all that is not enough, Betty also served as a Board member for one of our partner organizations, Toronto Homemaking Services, and spent many days working on their policies and the eventual restructuring of that organization.

I know that I speak for all Board members and WoodGreen staff when I say it has been both highly productive and a real pleasure having Betty as our Chair over these past two years. But this is hardly a good-bye, as she will remain a director of WoodGreen Community Services, as well as Chair of our housing corporation.

So on behalf of WoodGreen and its Board members, I would like to thank Betty for her outstanding contribution to WoodGreen.

Thomas Hofmann
Chair

CNAP

The Community Navigation and Access Program (CNAP) is a network of over 30 not-for-profit organizations, working together to serve seniors in communities across Toronto. Learn more at www.cnap.ca

New toll-free number: Seniors, their families and care providers are encouraged to call the CNAP toll-free phone number when they don’t know where to turn for help at home: 1-877-540-6565.

Who answers the phone? Callers are greeted by a professional Social Worker who takes the time to understand each senior’s needs and connects the senior to the right service provider in the local community.

The CNAP phone number is staffed from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Voicemails are returned within the business day.

City of Toronto names WoodGreen Affordable Housing Champion

WoodGreen is honoured to be named a 2010 Affordable Housing Champion by the City of Toronto.

Over 1,000 people live in WoodGreen's 700 units of affordable housing across the city. On June 3, WoodGreen was recognized for our commitment to affordable housing by the City of Toronto.

This prestigious award is given to an organization that is dedicated to providing housing opportunities for the people of Toronto. WoodGreen is one of a number of organizations creating more than 3,000 affordable rental and ownership homes in 2010.

Homeward Bound Expansion and Peel Region Replication

In 2009, WoodGreen Community Services marked the expansion of the remarkable Homeward Bound program with a ground breaking event. WoodGreen was joined by Peter Kent, MP for Thornhill, Kathleen Wynne, MPP for Don Valley West and City of Toronto Councillor Pam McConnell.

Launched in 2004, Homeward Bound is a program that helps single mothers transition from living in a shelter to complete economic self-sufficiency by providing affordable housing, subsidized childcare and employment training all while they are earning a two-year College Diploma (tuition paid by WoodGreen donors).

After completing Homeward Bound, each woman is guaranteed a job in her field of study. These jobs also come with a salary high enough to ensure the families will no longer be living in poverty. Taking a holistic approach, the program offers families all the critical supports they need to become self-sufficient - all under one roof.

When Phase II it is completed, an additional 44 women and their children will be able to move out of GTA shelters and in to safe, affordable housing, access quality childcare and get an education.

Due to the resounding success of the Homeward Bound program, WoodGreen has been awarded a prestigious three-year grant by the Ontario Trillium Future Fund to replicate Homeward Bound's success in Peel Region.

For more information, please contact  sduncan@woodgreen.org