Interval House
We are so grateful to have been nominated for 100 Women Who Care – 1000 Islands. On behalf of myself, my staff team, the women and children we serve and our Board of Directors – Thank you.
COVID 19 has had a significant impact on woman, children and youth living in Leeds and Grenville. One of the most harmful messages given in the early days of the pandemic was for people to “go home and stay there.” Home for many is an unsafe and scary place to be.
Leeds and Grenville Interval House (LGIH) has been significantly impacted by COVID 19. Due to a need to ensure physical distancing in the shelter we needed to reduce our capacity from 10 – 6. We have seen dramatic increases in the need for service; both for women and their children needing shelter services and outreach services. We have had to use local hotels to address the overflow. There has been a financial impact with needing to purchase and support new technology and create new ways of reaching out to support and counsel women. Donations have also been impacted significantly.
Since March 1, 2020 we have seen the following increases:
24 hour Crisis Line – We have received over 885 calls to our crisis line this is up over 530 calls during the same 8 month period in 2019.
Women seeking shelter – an 53% increase over 2019
Youth seeking support/service – an increase of 68%
Average length of stay is currently 19 weeks, up 2 weeks from 2019
Outreach support is up by approximately 45%
In 8 months our Outreach team has provided over 6800 hours of direct support and service to women and children living in Leeds and Grenville
October thru December are our major fundraising months, yet this year we are currently down by 60% over the same period last year. Overall for 2020 we are down by 52% which includes monetary and in-kind. Annually, we are expected to fundraise approximately 20% of our total operating budget.
If awarded these funds, LGIH would continue to expand our support for families and women living in the community – with the decrease in our shelter beds we are supporting many more families and women living throughout Leeds and Grenville. These funds would allow us to offer more groups for women, create support groups and meetings for youth. Assist women establishing lives free from violence and living in poverty find safe and affordable housing. By bringing our services to the community, we are increasing a woman’s chance and opportunity to flee her abusive situation, empowering her to live a life free from violence.