The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington has been named as one of the four beneficiaries for the reimagined Bishop’s Dinner.
Each year for the past 19 years, the Wellington Catholic District School Board has organized the Bishop’s Dinner to raise funds to support organizations within the Guelph and Wellington community.
The fundraising event will help support four local organizations, one of which is the Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington. The Children’s Foundation is a local organization whose mission is to empower children and youth by connecting families with opportunities to build hope for lifelong change with support from donors, volunteers, and community partners.
“The programs of the Children’s Foundation are vital to the overall well-being of the most vulnerable children and youth in the community. They support the physical, nutritional, educational, mental, emotional and social needs of kids in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph area. By supporting children and youth, the entire community benefits by developing strong, confident, resilient, educated, and contributing members of society who will engage in and contribute in various ways in our neighbourhoods, businesses, and social benefit sectors,” shared Emma Rogers, CEO of the Children’s Foundation. “Our programs promote and support local businesses, helping to fuel the local economy. The programs also provide engaging volunteer opportunities that lead to employment.”
Specifically related to the Wellington Catholic community, the Children’s Foundation operates the Food & Friends Program which provides healthy food for hungry minds in 16 Wellington Catholic schools; the Scholarships Program which provides a Future Fund scholarship to each high school, as well as opportunities for students to be nominated for other scholarships; the Adopt-A-Family Program, which receives referrals for vulnerable families from schools, where they provide grocery gift cards and gifts for children for the Christmas holidays; and the Free to Grow Program, which funds children and youth to participate in recreational and life-skill opportunities, as well as provides support for mental health counselling.
The Children’s Foundation has continued to operate these vital programs, despite the profound impact COVID-19 has caused the organization. Due to the pandemic, there has been an increased need and requirement to pivot many of their programs to ensure they are meeting the need.
“Many of the people who were living in poverty are struggling even more than ever, particularly with the loss of jobs. People previously not identifying as living in poverty are now living below the low income measures, again often due to loss of income during COVID,” explained Rogers. “Before COVID-19, 1 in 5 or more children in Canada faced food insecurity. Twice as many are at risk of going hungry now.”
To accommodate the increased need, the Food & Friends program moved to deliver nutritious food kits to children and youth at home; the Free to Grow program provided recreational kits to children and youth at home as well as piloting a Bike Project where they distributed 100 new bikes, helmets and locks; a new Mental Health initiative was developed to help youth receive 1 on 1 mental health counselling; and the Adopt-A-Family moved to providing gift cards, empowering families to purchase what they needed for the Christmas holidays.
In 2020, the Children’s Foundation was a beneficiary of the Bishop’s Dinner. From proceeds, they were able to provide 1400 healthy meals to hungry students through the Food & Friends program, as well as provide 50 recreation kits to children and youth who were isolated at home, giving them resources for creativity, learning, and physical activity through the Free to Grow at Home initiative.
With funds provided from the Bishop’s Dinner this year, the Children’s Foundation plans to support children and youth mental health and food security in our community.
“Because of the effects of COVID 19, the need to support the children and youth of Guelph and Wellington is even greater than in the past. The support through the Bishop’s Dinner will help support our organization this year by providing funding for mental health problems which have their onset during childhood or adolescence,” shared Rogers. “Free to Grow will continue to fund mental health counselling for children and youth, referred to us from CMHA. Food & Friends will continue to support 16 WCDSB schools, serving about 3,300 students on average and the At Home initiative will deliver food to about 275 children and youth who attend WCDSB schools.”
In addition to the Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington, net proceeds will be directed to the Canadian Mental Health Association – Wellington-Waterloo, Centre Wellington Food Bank, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Guelph and Wellington County.
The annual Bishop’s Dinner will return in a reimagined hybrid format on October 21, 2021. To purchase tickets or provide a donation, please visit https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/guelph-community-foundation/events/2021-bishops-dinner-for-community-needs/.