Fundraising: Upcoming Events

Capital Campaign to Renovate Hawthorne House

HomeBridge Youth Society has grown from a single house to six residential, youth caring facilities across HRM and a 12-seat school program over the past 30 years.  The mandate for Hawthorne House, which was the original, has changed slightly over those years, but the need for the facility certainly has not.  Hawthorne House serves at-risk males between the ages of 14 and 16 years old.

Hawthorne House is where everything began for HomeBridge.  The organization was established there, it was the first and only facility when it opened in 1979, the original board of directors even held there meetings in the house, and it remains the only facility that is owned by the organization. 

HomeBridge is preparing to launch its first capital campaign to raise the funds needed for a renovation project that will restore the integrity of the aged facility that has been maintained with “band aid” fixes for far too long.  The house is well over 100-years-old and therefore the need for capital investment is becoming increasingly more urgent.

Plans include lifting the house and replacing the original stone foundation.  This will provide the opportunity to even out floor and ceilings levels that currently differ in heights.  The interior of the house will also be renovated in this project.  The new plans include clearer lines of sight from both youth care offices, and a much more functional kitchen to prepare meals in.  The six residents also currently share four bedrooms and one full bath.  This project will provide each resident with their own room and will add another full bath for them to share.

Holidays of Hope

HomeBridge’s fifth annual (renamed from “Stockings of Hope in previous years) “Holidays of Hope” has just wrapped up for another year with great success.  Thanks to many generous supporters, who made either monetary donations or those of pre-filled stockings and presents, all youth living in the HomeBridge Community woke up to find something special under their tree on Christmas morning.

Due to circumstances beyond their control, many of the youth in our care cannot go home for Christmas or other annual celebrations, or even have the opportunity to visit family members and friends.  During these holidays that traditionally bring family together, it can be a time of great sadness and disappointment for the youth living in residential care facilities.  When this fundraiser started in 2005 our original goal was to raise $1,000 to fill 40 stockings for these young people. However, due to generous donors each successive year, our new campaign goal became to raise funds to support the celebration of other holidays throughout the entire year. 

The community support for this effort has been overwhelming, bringing in well over $5,000 in monetary donations this year as well as countless stockings and gifts.  This made the Christmas season a little easier for the youth in our care and will afforded us the opportunity to continue to make the rest of the holidays throughout 2010 a little brighter as well.

Thank you for your generosity and for making a difference in the lives of at-risk youth.

Online Fundraising Auction

HomeBridge’s first online fundraising auction has just wrapped up and thanks to many generous bidders over $6,500 was raised for youth programming.

The youth we serve, unfortunately, have had many unfortunate experiences due to the sadness and trauma in their lives. For the past 30 years, HomeBridge has been working to change that. Additional therapeutic programming has a very positive impact on the youth during their time with us.  Monies raised from this online auction will be used for life skills programming, educational supplies, and recreational and cultural experiences for the youth in our care throughout the year.

At this time we would like to thank all who participated in this event, from Real Decoy who created the auction site, to the generous donors who supplied our items and every one of you who forwarded the link to your friends and family or bid yourself.  Thank you for helping us to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth.

We hope you will join us again next year for this event.  Our vision of All Youth and Their Families Living in Health, Safety and Harmony could not be made possible without the generous support of people like you.

2009 Greeting Card Campaign

This year purchase holiday greeting cards that send more than warm wishes to your loved ones.

For over a decade, The Printing House Limited (TPH) has produced seasonal greeting cards in support of registered Canadian charities. The entire production process for these cards is donated, including artwork, stock and printing. As such, TPH® is unique in giving 100% of the selling price to the chosen charities.  The net proceeds of the TPH Charitable Greeting Card Campaign are donated to different charities across Canada and this year HomeBridge has been chosen as one of the recipients. 

The Printing House has chosen to focus on feeding Canadians this year by supporting various food programs.  HomeBridge is fortunate that the Department of Community Services fully funds food costs for the organization.  We do however, fundraise in order to offer advanced programming for the at-risk youth who reside in our six facilities. 

The money raised during this campaign will support our new “Discovering Food” program.  This will teach youth basic life skills and offer opportunities to prepare and try different cultural and regional foods that they may otherwise never experience. The program also supports the creation of urban gardens at some of the facilities and special celebratory dinners that can sometimes be the youth’s first experience in a restaurant that will allow them to order from a menu, which is not only fun but increases confidence.

To take part in this fundraising campaign simply follow the link below and place your order.  By purchasing your greeting cards from TPH’s beautiful selection, every card you send out will be delivering good cheer to more than just the intended recipient.

http://www.tph.ca/charitable/GreetingCards/

Expressions Program of the Arts 

Expressions' is a multi-component art program, which is designed to enhance the life skills and resilience in youth at-risk living in residential group care. Since the development of the Expressions program in 2004, hundreds of youth have experienced the opportunity to develop a greater respect for them selves and others, experience leadership roles and obtain life skills necessary to increase their resilience; thereby, decreasing factors that place them at risk of substance use, early school drop out, prostitution, chronic unemployment, youth homelessness and delinquent behaviors.

To date, youth living throughout HomeBridge Youth Society have participated in art, music, dance, drama, circus skills, digital photography and videography classes.  For many this offers a creative outlet for their emotions that they have never experienced before and an opportunity to feel valued and connected. 

Expressions begins a new year in September with the theme of “Creating an Environment of Learning and Growth”. This program is entirely made possible through the generous support of our donors.  Over the years those donors have included:

Raising the Roof

HomeBridge Youth Society has been very honored to be one of the recipients who benefited from the national homelessness prevention initiative known as "Raising the Roof".  For the past four years, HomeBridge has participated in the local organization, planning and implementation of toque sales for “Toque Tuesday” and ticket sales for the comedy event.   Proceeds from this initiative will be used for advanced youth programming, including advanced drug education and awareness training for employees.