Thanks to the support and incredible generosity from within our Humber community, we were able to substantially surpass our fundraising goal of $2,000 for Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter last month, raising just over $3,000!
Since opening in Etobicoke in 1983, they have sheltered and supported more than 15,000 women and gender diverse individuals and children, and through their Outreach Program, provide counselling services, crisis assistance, skills exchange initiatives, and a food bank for adults and children across the GTA.
A sincere and heartfelt thank you to those who donated, helping them to continue this very important work.
Your friends in the Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness.
About Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter
Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter was opened in 1983 by a group of community members who saw a need for a safe place for women and children fleeing violence and abuse.
Ernestine’s is a non-profit organization that provides advocacy, crisis intervention and shelter to women, two-spirit, trans, non-binary and gender diverse individuals and their children experiencing violence. Our services are evidence-informed and driven by values of inclusion, anti-racism, anti-oppression and respect. We seek to interrupt violence through education and advocacy for social justice.
Ernestine’s is a 32-bed emergency shelter with 14 private bedrooms.
We provide a home for individuals and their children – who stay with us from six months to over one year – until we find appropriate housing for them. During their stay, we provide them with all the necessities they might need (new bedding, clothes, school supplies, toiletries, baby supplies, prescriptions not covered by OHIP, loaded Presto cards, and anything else they might need).
In addition to shelter clients, we support over 600 adults and children from across the GTA through our Outreach Program. The shelter’s Outreach clients have access to counselling services and programs as well as the shelter’s on-site donation rooms and food bank.
We provide a range of holistic services to our shelter and outreach clients. Our services and programs include 24-hour crisis assistance, individual and group-based counselling support, skills exchange programs, as well as legal, housing, and immigration support and advocacy.
Thanks to our supporters, last year (2021-2022) we were able to:
- Respond to 1,258 crisis calls
- Provide shelter and support to 50 adults and 35 children, who called Ernestine’s their home
- Offer lifelines to 286 adults and 418 children in the community through our Outreach Programs
- Provide 397 check-ins and supportive engagement to children and youth, who form the majority of our clients
- 214 adults and 401 children were serviced as a result of the 637 times Ernestine’s food support services were accessed. Ernestine’s has continued to see an increased need for our services since the beginning of the pandemic.
