COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE
Historically, the Trust provided emergency financial assistance to individuals and families seeking help with basic needs – people juggling the cost of food and housing. Funding for this program came from Hastings County.
In 2020 The County chose to fund our Home Share project, and no longer provide funding for emergency assistance. Since the loss of this funding, we began referring people to other organizations for assistance, and to our local government support programs including Hastings County, Ontario Works, and Ontario Disability Support Program.
We provide help navigating government systems, and advocating for folks needing to access government financial help. We provide referrals to other organizations, and community supports. We also offer access to our other programs, including Food Share, Wood Share, and Harvest The North Community Gardens. At times we have additional capacities for further relief depending on our funding.
We recognize that government assistance (Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program) is not enough to meet basic needs. We also recognize that minimum wage employment is often not enough either.
We believe that government assistance rates should be raised to a livable amount and also believe minimum wage should be increased, so everyone has enough to live and indeed thrive.
