Dear Friend,

I hope this festive season provides an opportunity for you and your loved ones to rest and rejuvenate. I send warm wishes to you and yours over the holidays and into the New Year. 

2023 has been a challenging year for many West Neighbourhood House program participants and neighbours. A higher cost of living, unaffordable and unavailable housing, and social exclusion continue to distress people in this community. I ask you to join me and donate to the work of West Neighbourhood House. We need your help to respond to immediate needs in the community while building long-term resilience and addressing systemic inequities. 

I would like to tell you about a timely innovation that we are leading in light of the financial pressures that many people face right now. Over the past 18 months, we deepened our financial empowerment work, now providing short-term and long-term individualized financial coaching to low-income young adults with three workforce training program partners. 

Creative, forward-looking interventions, like this financial coaching model, occur throughout the House and we need your support to realize more of them.

Housing unaffordability is one the other pressing issues for the West Neighbourhood House community. 

Every day, our staff assist: 

• people who “graduated” from our Meeting Place Drop-in, i.e., they were housed, even employed, but have returned for housing help due to evictions; 
• survivors leaving abusive relationships and gender-based violence;
• families in our pre-school drop-in program worried about how they will pay their bills; 
• seniors living on a low-income, unable to afford their housing costs; and 
• refugees and asylum seekers who meet with our mobile settlement workers at temporary housing sites, like shelters and churches. 

Your support enables us to respond to immediate housing pressures and continue our work on improved housing policy, building safer and more inclusive communities, and increasing the availability of affordable housing.

The ultimate goal of West Neighbourhood House is to change the conditions that drive social inequities. We work diligently to get at the root causes of these harmful conditions with our public policy and advocacy work.

Thank you for your valuable support. Your generosity will continue to enable our work with the community. Together, we can continue to build a resilient and inclusive community. You can give online at westnh.org/donate.

Sincerely, 

Prasad Rao 

Volunteer President, West Neighbourhood House Board of Directors 

P.S. Please consider becoming a monthly donor – it is easy, convenient and provides the House with a vital source of regular support to continue serving our community. You can give online at westnh.org/donate.