All Nations Youth Safe House today celebrated receiving the $25,000 grant they received from The Home Depot Canada Foundation for its safe house improvement project.
The grant is part of The Orange Door Project Grant Program, which supports repairs, renovations and/or modifications to housing accommodations or other support facilities for homeless youth. The funding will be used to upgrade the highly populated All Nations Youth Safe House.
The All Nations Youth Safe House Upgrades and Repairs Project is a project the organization has been working on for the past several months. Due to limited funding, there isn’t a lot of room for major upgrades to the housing facility.
All Nations Youth Safe House has recently renovated their main youth washroom from a previous $5,000 grant from the Home Depot Canada Foundation. They plan to utilize this new grant by doing a complete kitchen renovation.
The kitchen at All Nations Youth Safe House has never had any upgrades and the appliances are aging and not in the best of conditions. With the amount of youth the Safe House services in a year it is important they have a reliable kitchen to prepare healthy meals to the youth population they serve.
“This project wouldn’t have been possible without the funding generously provided by The Home Depot Canada Foundation,” said Kyla Bains, program manager at All Nations Youth Safe House. “This project is our hope at improving the living environment in which our youth reside. We want our youth to enjoy being here, feel comfortable here and most of all utilize the areas in which they are residing”
The Home Depot Canada is committed to ending youth homelessness, said Jeff Kinnaird, chair, board of directors, The Home Depot Canada Foundation and president, The Home Depot Canada.
"We are so proud to support All Nations Youth Safe House with their upgrades and repairs improvement project,” he said. “By supporting the organizations that provide important life-skills programs, we are helping bring housing and hope to our most vulnerable youth.”
The Orange Door Project Grant Program is part of The Orange Door Project initiative, the Foundation’s three-year, $10-million pledge to support renovation and repair projects and programs that provide vulnerable and homeless youth with access to safe, stable housing and support services.
By the end of 2016, The Home Depot Canada Foundation will have distributed almost $4 million in grants to 141 charitable organizations across Canada through this program which began in 2009.
All Nations Youth Safe House is a six-bed emergency housing facility for youth ages 16- to 18-years old, who are homeless or at risk. The safe house provides homeless youth with a place to stay for up to 30 days, while exploring options and resources for more safe and stable housing.