On July 9th we announced a $75,000 grant to Dan’s Legacy to support the addition of a trauma-informed therapist to its team in order to meet the increased demand for mental health support for at-risk youth. In addition, At the same time, we announced over $40,000 in funding to support Sources Community Resources Society (SOURCES) to scale up and scale out their food security services so that they can provide more nutritious food to the growing need in local communities throughout the pandemic and beyond. These grants were made possible through the Government of Canada’s new $350 million Emergency Community Support Fund which saw over $900,000 allocated to SurreyCares.
“The COVID-19 crisis has increased mental health and food security issues with at-risk youth who are already struggling with psychosis, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. As many of these youth are homeless and hungry, they are particularly vulnerable to diseases such as COVID-19.” Said Christine Buttkus, Executive Director of SurreyCares. “It’s critical that we allocate some of this funding to support vulnerable youth in our community.”
Baltej Singh Dhillon, Kathryn Priest-Peries,
Christine Buttkus, Barbara Coates and Linda Annis
The federal program is a national partnership with Community Foundations of Canada, United Way Centraide Canada and the Canadian Red Cross.
“We’re grateful for the support of our friends at SurreyCares, who have been a part of our team since 2017,” says Barbara Coates, Dan’s Legacy’s executive director. “Directing funding towards trauma-informed counselling programs like ours is a major investment in evidence-based harm prevention strategies, ensuring the youth get the critical support they need to help them take control of their lives and begin working towards their educational, employment and recovery goals.”
"Harm reduction initiatives save lives. But at Dan's Legacy, we are working upstream. Getting ahead of the issue with our harm prevention strategies," says Baltej Singh Dhillon, a director on Dan's Legacy's board. "We want to thank SurreyCares for giving us the support we need to grow our team, to help more at-risk youth from the community get the mental health and wrap-around support that they critically need."
Denise Darrell, David Young, Christine Buttkus and Linda Annis
“Many community and social service agencies that serve meals to the underprivileged are struggling due to food supply chains being affected by the pandemic. Part of what Sources Food Hub does is recover edible, unmarketable food from farmers and grocers and provide it to our partner organizations, effectively reducing food waste while feeding those in need. This grant will help us upgrade to a larger site, where we can process more food while reducing the risk of COVID contamination and expand our food security services beyond Surrey, out to White Rock and Langley. We are thankful to SurreyCares for supporting our Food Hub operations so that we can serve people in all of our communities in a better way,” said Denise Darrell, Executive Director of Community Services at SOURCES. “This will significantly improve the health and well-being of low-income individuals and help these communities to thrive.”
"We’re proud that Surrey is part of this national program and grateful to the Government of Canada for this much-needed boost benefitting local charities," added John Lawson, Chair of SurreyCares. "We definitely need to support those who are struggling with food insecurity as well as do what we can to help our youth, many of whom face barriers in accessing mental health programs.”
Individuals and businesses who wish to support Surrey charities are asked to give to the Surrey Community Relief Fund. In partnership with the Surrey Now-Leader, Surrey Board of Trade and The Saheli Foundation the goal is to raise $500,000 to support the most vulnerable populations in Surrey.
For 26 years SurreyCares has been committed to inspiring donors, growing charitable endowments and investing in people, ensuring that Surrey is a committed, connected and caring community