Latest news with #communitySupport
CTV News
11 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
Activists defend trees in Halifax
Atlantic Watch The fight to save dozens of trees on Robie Street in Halifax has stepped up.
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
Kitchener students host garage sale to support the community
Students at a Kitchener public school spent months researching issues facing the local community and put together a garage sale on Thursday to help raise funds for The House of Friendship. Grade 8 students at Groh Public School conducted interviews looking into issues like food insecurity, a lack of access to clothing, a need for school supplies and the importance of having a sense of community. 'After we understood the needs of what people are struggling with, we came up with 100 ideas and landed with a garage sale,' said student Jana Eljayal. Students collected all kinds of items for the community garage sale and started selling products at the school on Thursday. 'There's CD's, clothing, books, shoes, sports equipment and toys as well,' said student Tatiana Voros. All proceeds are going to The House of Friendship. 'It makes me feel good. Especially because we were able to put this together in a very short amount of time. So I'm pretty amazed of how much we were able to accomplish. I feel really happy that a bunch of people are going to have a lot of good memories with these toys,' said student Ameen Adedeji. 'Some people don't have this stuff in life. We know a lot of people enjoy a lot of this. Maybe some people want clothes of another colour, or toys they can play with their friends or their family. Giving this to people is just good,' said student Harjap Ahuja. The sale wraps up Thursday at 7 p.m. The students have also launched a funding page to collect community donations.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Dump shop rescues items to kit out homes for struggling families: 'It means everything'
By Kira Carrington , Local Democracy Reporter JBL Environmental managing director Chloe Abernethy, left, and operations manager Jabian Takarua help to run The Dump Shop's Unwanted Goods Project. Photo: Local Democracy Reporting/ Kira Carrington Staff at The Dump Shop in Blenheim have been flat out, connecting households in need with furniture and appliances that were destined for the dump. JBL Environmental Ltd has been running the Unwanted Goods Project since it was contracted by Marlborough District Council to take over the shop formerly known as the Blenheim Re-use Centre on Wither Road, in July 2024. The aim is to divert usable items from waste for their many customers across Marlborough ‒ both those looking for a bargain, and those in urgent need of furniture, appliances and other basic household items. Managing director Chloe Abernethy said they had never found themselves short on donations. "There's a really positive engagement with the community, they've been so supportive of us," Abernethy said. "When we went for this contract, our biggest goal was to just try and divert as much as possible [from landfill] and get it back out to the community. "We try to not reject anything from anyone. We try to take as much as possible." Items for sale at The Dump Shop. Staff select some to go towards the Unwanted Goods Project. Photo: Local Democracy Reporting/ Kira Carrington The service was particularly handy for people who did not have a truck or trailer to drop off or pick up items, she said. The service was free of charge. JBL operations manager Jabian Takarua said the project worked with organisations such as Women's Refuge, Work and Income, and Christchurch City Mission, sometimes kitting out families with a whole household's worth of items. "It's an awesome feeling," Takarua said. "When you can grab this resource from seniors that would otherwise have to throw it in the rubbish ... going to a family that's got nothing from the Hawke's Bay floods the other year, and coming down here trying to survive ... it means everything. "One man's trash, another man's treasure." The project provides second-hand household items to those who need them. Photo: Local Democracy Reporting/ Kira Carrington Gateway Housing Trust, which managed 16 transitional homes in Blenheim, worked with the project to secure household items for families leaving the service and moving into permanent homes. The trust's housing navigators Karyn and Carmel (who did not give their last names for privacy reasons) said they could not praise the project enough. "Most of our families ... they don't have a thing [when they leave], because all our units are fully furnished," Karyn said. "So when they go to move [out], they have nothing." Families in the Gateway Housing Trust's transitional housing may receive household items from the Unwanted Goods Project when they move out. Photo: Local Democracy Reporting/ Kira Carrington With eight families currently in the process of moving out, the trust reached out to The Dump Shop for help, and the team was able to spend last weekend organising furniture and household goods for the trust. They then put together starter kits to give to Gateway's families, made up of plates, pots, pans, sheets, pillow slips, and towels. "I think JBL do an amazing job for our community and for our people," Carmel said. Along with the Unwanted Goods Project, The Dump Shop's initiatives to divert waste included soft plastic recycling, a pallet recovery scheme, and even repurposing a tomato farm's coconut peat mulch. They planned to do even more community outreach and launch more projects, such as a construction and demolition waste recovery scheme. "We've always said if we got kicked out of a job because there was no waste, then that would be a great day," Abernethy said. "We've done our job." Collection and delivery forms were available by searching for the Unwanted Goods Project on the Marlborough District Council website. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
‘We're going to make it work': Moncton soup kitchens prepare for additional guests
The kitchen at Harvest House in Moncton, N.B., is pictured. (CTV Atlantic / Derek Haggett) Thursday was another busy day at the Ray of Hope Soup Kitchen in Moncton and it's likely to get even busier in the coming days and weeks. Kitchen manager Barb Mackenzie said they serve between 80 to 100 meals a day, every Monday to Friday. But she expects those numbers to jump drastically. On Tuesday, Harvest House Atlantic executive director Leon Baker told CTV News they would be phasing out their meal programs and other services for people not staying at the shelter. Baker said provincial funding hasn't been cut, but they just can't afford the additional $38,000 a month for the services. Debbie Bieman and Barb Mackenzie Debbie Bieman and Barb Mackenzie at the Ray of Hope Soup Kitchen in Moncton, N.B. (CTV Atlantic / Derek Haggett) Mackenzie believes that will put a strain on her operation. 'We are probably going to see a fair increase. I would say 20 to 30 people a day, I would imagine,' said Mackenzie. Debbie Bieman, the other full-time employee at Ray of Hope, said things are already hard enough. 'We're going to make it work, but yeah, there's going to be a strain definitely,' said Bieman. 'There's a strain now. It's hard. We're feeding twice the amount of people that we did last year at this time. Twice. We're not getting any more food. We're just making it stretch farther.' Barb Mackenzie Barb Mackenzie looks at her weekly schedule in the pantry of the Ray of Hope Soup Kitchen in Moncton, N.B. (CTV Atlantic / Derek Haggett) Around 100 meals are served a day a few blocks away at Karing Kitchen. 'We can't imagine it's not going to have an impact,' said executive director Bruce Lawson. Harvest House stopped serving breakfast this week and the breakfast program at St. George's Anglican Church is scheduled to stop at the end of the month. 'We're seeing an increase in our number even this week,' said Lawson. 'We're seeing new faces and we're seeing faces we haven't seen in a while showing up at our doors.' Bruce Lawson Bruce Lawson, the executive director of the Karing Kitchen in Moncton, N.B., is pictured. (CTV Atlantic / Derek Haggett) The Humanity Project serves between 250 and 300 meals a day seven days a week, but they actually ran short on Wednesday night by around 15 people. Staff scrambled to make sure no one went hungry, but Humanity Project founder Charlie Burrell said the end to programs provided elsewhere is going to have a huge impact on them. 'At supper time we're expecting to have quite a few more people showing up because they no longer have a meal one block over from us,' said Burrell. Like the staff at Ray of Hope, Burrell is expecting the extra mouths to feed will be a huge strain. 'This whole last year has been a huge strain. As the numbers keep increasing and going up, you need more volunteers to help and it's hard to fill those voids when the numbers just keep getting higher and higher day after day,' said Burrell. Charlie Burrell Humanity Project founder Charlie Burrell is pictured. (CTV Atlantic / Derek Haggett) Working Poor Lawson said only five to ten per cent of the people they serve are homeless. The hope is to receive more funding from the provincial government and donations from the general public as they do their due diligence in preparing for the extra guests. 'We've upped our seating capacity downstairs here. We've talked to our volunteers about the additional workload we're about to see. So yeah, we've covered all of our bases and we're ready willing and able to serve the additional people,' said Lawson. Everyone is welcome to come for a meal at Ray of Hope, not just the city's homeless. 'We've got senior citizens that have enough money to pay their rent, but they're hungry, they come in, we feed them,' said Bieman. 'We have moms and kids that come in. Little children, sweet little children.' Up to 30 per cent of the people served daily at the Humanity project are experiencing homeless. 'The rest are seniors on fixed incomes. Families with children,' said Burrell. 'Or you'll see people pull up in their work truck or in their work uniforms, get out and grab a meal because they can't afford rent. There's a lot of people struggling.' For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Oakland organization helping Black youth find mentors, community
A program in Oakland is connecting Black youth with mentors in the community to help them navigate and succeed in life, and the leaders of that program said they believe the key to that lies in reclaiming their people's past. "We offer them support in whatever they're going through in life," said Kevin Hill, with the Brotherhood of Elders Network. "We're working with young boys to help them develop as individuals. To help them develop their leadership skills. To help them develop their learning skills. To help them develop their spiritual and moral skills," said CEO Gregory Hodge. Hodge has been involved with the Brotherhood since its founding 15 years ago. He has been a mentor and friend to Kevin Butler since he was invited to join the organization six years ago. "They saw my heart and where I was coming from. I saw their hearts and where they were coming from in terms of being able to unite on that mission of uplifting the community and fostering environments for young Black boys and men to thrive," said Butler. Butler said he lost his grandparents around the time he joined, and that the bonds of Brotherhood helped fill the void. And within the organization, he found the encouragement and guidance to start his own business. "It's like, yeah, we come from different backgrounds. We come from different generations. And of course, it's easy to slip into that habit of let's focus on all the ways that we're different. But when we go to the retreat, and we're having these deep conversations and we're being vulnerable with each other, all that kind of fades away," Butler said. The Brotherhood is now trying to build upon that foundation of community and culture by connecting with other like-minded organizations in Oakland. They recently published the first edition of the "Black Youth Development Book." The book's website described it as a "directory for Black-led education programs for youth in Oakland." "I asked myself, 'Who's helping our young people navigate these modern times,'" Hill told KPIX. Hill said he hopes the book amplifies the Brotherhood's message, putting information at parents' fingertips. "I think it's very important, and I see it as part of our mission to make sure our young people have culturally affirming programming and mentors and adults that they are exposed to so they can grow up with cultural pride." They said pride, purpose and a sense of history is the key to the community's future. "People say this all the time, but 'change happens at the speed of trust.' And trust is based on healthy, strong relationships, in my opinion," Hodge said.
