A pair of local organizations are praising the City of Guelph’s commitment for matching donations in an effort to help raise money for a capital fundraising campaign in the southwestern Ontario community.
The Guelph Community Foundation and the United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin announced on Tuesday that they have surpassed the $1.5 million mark in their Home for Good campaign. The City pledged back in July 2022 to match each donation up to $500,000.
“We did have a lot of people that came forward to donate who were inspired by that opportunity to double their impact,” said Glenna Banda, executive director of UWGWD. “The City of Guelph match really helped but there is still a lot of fundraising to do.”
The overall fundraising goal of Home for Good is $5 million. Banda said they have so far raised close to $2 million.
Chris Willard, executive director of The Guelph Community Foundation, said in a statement, “The early awareness resulted in several donations of all shapes and sizes, reinforced the urgency of the homelessness crisis and the Guelph Wellington community’s commitment to funding solutions.”
The funds raised will go towards the construction of 72 permanent supportive housing units in Guelph. There are three projects currently underway: the Bellevue Project by Wyndham House that will accommodate eight youths; 10 Shelldale Cres. by Skyline Properties which will see 32 units built; and Grace Gardens on the former Parkview Motel property that will see another 32 individuals be housed.
Banda said this is expected to cut chronic homelessness by half.
“It is such an important and emerging issue in our community,” said Banda. “We felt it was a really strong statement to have the two largest charitable funders in our community work together to solve the issue.”
Anyone wishing to donate can do so on the Home for Good website.