Trinity Grants $100,000 through its partnership with WRCF
It has been three years since Trinity’s partnership with the Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF) began, and what a wonderful partnership it has been! We have partnered in four granting cycles with WRCF and have granted $350,000 since 2022!
WRCF’s thorough and unbiased process of reviewing and evaluating their Community Grants applications, has made it much easier for Trinity’s Affordable Housing Committee to make recommendations to the Board to meet its Affordable Housing Outreach Mission.
This spring, Trinity’s Affordable Housing committee, consisting of Janet Howitt, Diane Vandeberg, Cathy Baer, Mark Breathwaite, Dave Rutherford and Mac Summers, met to review a number of applications and recommended to the Board the following grants, which the Board approved on June 2nd:
$30,000 to A Better Tent City (ABTC) to expand and enhance ABTC’s ‘Belonging and Inclusion Programming and Services’. This grant will support 75 – 125 residents, guests and visitors of ABTC, using their welcoming community space to build community, develop skills, stabilize their lives and maintain and secure housing with programming, counselling, and referrals.
$30,000 to Services and Housing in the Province (SHIP) for ‘Shelter Bed Intensive Case Management’ at the Edith MacIntosh Men’s Shelter. This grant could support up to 500 men to build community, develop skills and self management and readiness for permanent housing.
$20,000 to Sanguen for their ‘Peer Support Program for Sanguen’s Drop-in Space at 130 Victoria St’. With the closure of the CTS sites (Consumption and Treatment Sites) on April 1, 2025 many in our community lost critical services. Sanguen is one of the only low barrier access sites for homeless individuals with Hep C, addictions and other concerns. The drop in will employ peer workers with lived experience to support and offer harm reduction.
$20,000 to Tiny Home Takeout to continue their work in Downtown Kitchener providing healthy meals on a “Grab a bite – give what you can” model. Food security continues to be a concern and access to healthy, affordable meals might allow someone to maintain their housing. This also is available to people who are downtown, a longtime mission of Trinity.
Cheques were delivered in early July and the organizations that we are supporting were very welcoming and appreciative of our support, as shown in the accompanying pictures.
WRCF also gave Trinity United Church a noticeable presence in their recent press release, and Trinity’s granting of $100,000 is a very significant part of their granting.
Respectfully submitted by Cathy Baer
