Dawn House is giving Kingstonians a simple way to help support their work in the community.
The non-profit has launched a new fundraising campaign that makes it as easy as tapping a credit or debit card at several local businesses.
“Somebody can tap to donate a toonie, or to donate $5 or $10,” Dawn House’s executive director Maggie McLaren tells Global News. “It’s a way to raise some revenue and support what we do, because if we can’t raise the revenue then we can’t continue to do what we do.”
The tap machines are currently set up at Coco Frutti at 768 Gardiners Rd., Jiffy Grill & Bar at 2395 Princess St., One Plant at 770 Gardiners Rd., and Kingston’s Flower Market at 2901 Princess Street.
Dawn House Women’s Shelter was founded in 1986 in response to a housing crisis, and although the shelter closed in 2016, the organization continues to support and empower homeless, vulnerably housed and marginalized women in Kingston.
“We have permanent, supportive, affordable housing, transitional housing, and an emergency shelter for women who are homeless in our community,” McLaren explains.
“There are a lot of mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, who are out there right now, on the street because of the economy that we are in. They can’t afford housing and they are living day to day in survival mode in encampments around town — it’s a really rough time for women in this city right now.”
While McLaren says it’s hard to know exactly how many women are experiencing homelessness in Kingston on any given night, she said Dawn House currently has 120 applications for their transitional housing programs.
“We suspect that there’s 150-200 women in this city who are homeless,” she said. “But not all of them show up in the statistics because they may be sleeping on someone’s couch or staying somewhere unsafe and not actually reaching out and saying ‘hey, I’m homeless and need support.'”
Dawn House’s new fundraising campaign will run over the next few months as a pilot project.
McLaren said, because of the cost of running the machines, the organization will look at whether or not they’ve been successful after three months before deciding whether or not to continue with the fundraiser.
“We’re hopeful that it’s going to make a difference for us,” McLaren said, adding Dawn House is grateful for all the help it can get. “It really means an awful lot to us and the women we support.”
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