REGINA — Two Regina non-profits have received a large amount of funds from the Tim Hortons Smile Cookie campaign.
The campaign, which ran from April 27 to May 3, raised over $140,000 for First Steps Wellness Centre (FSWC) and over $93,000 for the SOFIA House, which executive director Lauren Danke started getting emotional over.
“I started crying just because I see every day the families that we're supporting and I see the faces of their kids, and I see my staff every day showing up doing the best that they can do.”
The SOFIA House runs a second-stage housing and also a third-stage housing in collaboration with Avana for 39 families with women and children who have fled domestic violence.
Over the past several years, the non-profit has operated with annual budgets ranging from $1.2 million to $1.3 million.
“Under 10 per cent of that money is federal funding through the Ministry of Justice. But everything else is all grants and fundraising, and the product of amazing donations," said Danke.
With new funding coming in, Danke said the organization can now “say yes” to providing more support for the families in its care.
"We can afford to put more food into this pantry. We can offer support to families and to staff that otherwise we wouldn't be able to do so.”
Unlike other shelters, SOFIA House has no timeline for when families must leave.
With a lengthy waitlist, Danke said expanding support for families could help reduce the backlog.
“The better quality of programs and services we're able to offer our families, the more support they're getting, the more empowerment they're receiving, the stronger they're feeling, the more stability they're experiencing. And it's really being able to check those things off that give these families, and these women, the courage and the strength to make that decision of saying 'I'm ready to move on'.”
As for FSWC, Andrew Schmidt, director of communications, said he was flabbergasted by the money.
“This will represent actually the largest single donation we've ever received.”
FSWC performs long-term therapy for people with neurological injury or condition at affordable rates.
“[It started with] our founder, [he] had a spinal cord injury and started our facility, and then we branched out to stroke, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, you name it,” said Schmidt.
Since its inception, Schmidt said FSWC has taken 600-700 clients, as it currently serves 100 people weekly.
As for the money, Schmidt said FSWC will meet in a couple of weeks to discuss where it will go.
“Will do some long-term planning of how we can use this money really properly and wisely in the long term.”
Those long-term plans could include putting funds towards savings.
