Archives for June 2019

Archive for June, 2019

GlobalMedic brings Nellie’s the ‘little things’

Posted on: June 28th, 2019 by Nellie's No Comments

GlobalMedic brings Nellie’s the ‘little things’ that many take for granted!

Every woman who arrives at Nellie’s Shelter is welcomed and cared for. Her immediate needs are met as quickly as possible – this could mean finding her a warm meal, clean clothes or toiletries for the night. And it’s because of our generous donors that we are able to provide all of these day-to-day necessities of life.

Recently, a donation from GlobalMedic, a Canadian charity whose mission is to provide short-term, rapid response in the wake of disasters and crises both at home and abroad, helped ensure that the women and their children at our shelter, and in our community, have the basic toiletries they need. The agency donated over 180 toiletry kits. Of those, 150 kits contained a bar of soap, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush and a package of sanitary pads. The remaining 32 were considered men’s kits, meaning rather than sanitary pads, they included men’s scented deodorant and body wash.

The Toronto-based organization also donated similar kits to Nellie’s in 2018.

“There are women who come to the shelter who need stuff for their kids too. The toiletries in each of these kits can spread pretty far and can help a whole family,” says Tara Kranics, Emergency Programs Officer at GlobalMedic. “These items are the little things that so many of us take for granted as simply always being there when we need them,” says Tara.

Our staff hand out the kits to help women when they first arrive at the shelter. Others go to women already living in the shelter or who visit our community office who may not have the means to purchase these necessary items. Every product in the kits were donated by Proctor & Gamble Canada. Several P&G employees also helped GlobalMedic pack the kits.

“At GlobalMedic our mission is to help abroad and here at home. It’s important to us to help people right here in our community. We truly want to help as many people as we can.”

Thank you GlobalMedic for helping us with your generosity. You have made a huge difference in the daily lives of the women and their children in the Nellie’s community.

We celebrated at Pride 2019!

Posted on: June 28th, 2019 by Nellie's No Comments

As huge crowds converged on downtown Toronto for Canada’s largest pride weekend, Nellie’s played a part in the joyful celebrations.

All weekend long, Nellie’s had a bright and cheery booth at the street fair on Alexander Street where we handed out information and flyers, accepted donations and took the time to mingle and laugh with everyone who stopped by. And on Saturday, along with more than 45 women from our community (and even some of their children and grandchildren), we were colourfully decked out as we chanted, celebrated and marched with thousands of others in Toronto’s annual Dyke March.

“I was surprised to see how many people came to support us. Especially since many of the community members were older women, it meant a lot to have them come out on such a hot day, and march with us to the end,” says Sarah Pynisky, Nellie’s Community Support & Outreach Worker.

“We had some women from the shelter march with us as well. Afterwards they told me they had gone around to many booths and explained who they were, what organization they were with, and proudly supported us. We provided fun costumes and things to wear during the march, as well as Nellie’s Flags, and Nellie’s t-shirts. It was lovely to see all the women from both the shelter and community come together with their support.”

Pride organizers estimated that it was the largest turnout in the march’s history.

Having an information booth at Pride weekend is also a long-standing tradition for us at Nellie’s. We advocate for all women experiencing oppressions, such as violence, poverty and homelessness so it’s important to us to celebrate Pride with the LGBTQ2+ community.

“When I was at the booth, a lot of people who stopped by were already familiar with Nellie’s so they just stopped by to say hello,” says Sarah Pynisky, Nellie’s Community Support & Outreach Worker.

“Taking part in Pride weekend is important to us, it’s just one of the really important ways we take a stand together for violence against women,” says Sarah. “And the response from everyone is always so amazing. People know us and they cheer for us.”

We had an amazing time at Pride Toronto 2019 and are already looking forward to next year’s events!

Brighter Together builds storage solution for Nellie’s!

Posted on: June 6th, 2019 by Nellie's No Comments

Nellie’s had a storage problem. Brighter Together built a solution

In recent years, Nellie’s has seen a dramatic shift in demographics — more women are arriving with their children to live in the shelter than ever before. Today, almost half of our current residents are children ranging in age from newborn to 15 years.

There are many challenges with having an influx of children in the shelter. For one, children have very different needs from their mothers and require different programs and services to help them work through the trauma they’ve experienced and the emotions they may be feeling in an age-appropriate way.

Another is more of a logistical challenge. More young children, means the need for more strollers at Nellie’s. But not only do we need more strollers, we also need somewhere to store them. Inside the shelter isn’t an option, because they have to be left in the hallways, which is a fire and safety hazard. And outside isn’t an ideal option either, because they risk being stolen from the yard and are subject to all weather conditions.

Dunya Knezic (who has also supported Nellie’s as a part of the committee that organized Karaoke for a Cause for the last three years) and Blayne Kumar of Bright Immigration decided to find a solution to Nellie’s problem. They formed Brighter Together, a non-profit arm of Bright Immigration, specifically to give Canadian immigrants an opportunity to give back to Canadian charities. Nellie’s became Brighter Together’s first charity of choice.

“Our approach is solutions-based problem solving and when we heard about Nellie’s, we quickly realized that there was no point in giving them strollers if they’re not going to be secured in a space,” says Blayne, owner of Bright Immigration.

“We had to build an outdoor shed.”

Through Brighter Together, they raised over $3000 to build a storage shed that met Nellie’s Shelter’s needs. A cookie cutter shed didn’t offer enough space. So Blayne and Dunya had to think outside the box and custom design and build a taller than average shed that maximized storage area. Construction took place on November 14, 2018. The new shed holds six to nine strollers at a time.

“The spirit behind Brighter Together is not just about donating to a charity,” says Dunya. “Anyone can do that. We are creating an outlet for Canadian immigrants to give back in a meaningful way. And we are so happy that supporting Nellie’s was our first project.”

Thank you Blayne and Dunya! Your generosity and problem-solving skills made a huge difference in the daily lives of the women and their children living at Nellie’s.