The Home Depot Canada Foundation Orange Door
Awards help prevent and end youth homelessness in Canada
TORONTO, March 28, 2017 /CNW/ - Eight Canadian
non-profit organizations are getting a boost in their efforts to
prevent and end youth homelessness through The Home Depot Canada®
Foundation's Orange Door Awards.
Youth advisors play a central role in selecting the Orange Door
Award winners each year. The advisors draw on their own lived
experience to evaluate the applications, ensuring that each
$25,000 grant goes where it will make
the biggest impact in building brighter futures for youth.
"It meant a lot to me to turn the adversity I've experienced
into something positive by contributing to a project like this
one," said Tyler Henderson, a youth
advisor with the Street Youth Planning Collaborative – Youth
Leaders Committee. "It feels good to contribute to something bigger
than yourself."
The award recipients for 2017 are:
- British Columbia: Kamloops A
Way Home Committee to End Youth Homelessness
- Manitoba: Macdonald Youth
Services (Winnipeg)
- Newfoundland: Choices for
Youth (St. John's)
- Nova Scotia: YWCA
(Halifax)
- Ontario: Windsor Youth Centre,
Youth Opportunities Unlimited (London), oneROOF Youth Services (Kitchener), Wyndham
House (Guelph)
The Orange Door Awards is one of three grant programs available
through The Home Depot Canada Foundation to support organizations
working with homeless and vulnerable youth.
"We're committed to preventing and ending youth homelessness in
Canada," said Jeff Kinnaird, chair, board of directors, The
Home Depot Canada Foundation and president, The Home Depot Canada.
"Over the past three years we've supported the work of more than
300 non-profit organizations, giving them the chance to help more
youth in need."
Quick Facts
- Six youth advisors from Hamilton's Street Youth Planning Collaborative
Youth Leaders Committee evaluated the applications and helped
select the winners. The advisors, aged 16 to 21, have personally
experienced street-involvement or homelessness.
- Homelessness can begin as young as age 13 – and if not
addressed, can lead to years on the streets (source: Without a
Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey).
- The Home Depot Canada Foundation has established a thought
leadership advisory council and supported new research to better
understand the circumstances and needs of homeless youth in
Canada.
About The Home Depot Canada Foundation:
The Home Depot
Canada Foundation is committed to helping prevent and put an end to
youth homelessness in Canada. On
any given night, more than 6,000 young people are without a place
to call home, making youth homelessness one of the most urgent
social issues facing Canadians today. Through The Orange Door
Project initiative, the Foundation has pledged $20 million by 2018 to improve housing options,
support life-skills development programs, and invest in research
that ensures funding is directed to the most effective solutions
designed to help youth build brighter futures. For more
information, please visit: www.orangedoorproject.ca.
SOURCE The Home Depot of Canada Inc.