CENTRE WELLINGTON – Grassroots Response, based in Waterloo Region, has opened a new guest house just outside of Elora.
A not-for-profit organization that supports displaced Ukrainians coming to Ontario, Grassroots Response was founded in Waterloo in 2022.
The program has since expanded to keep up with demand.
“We help displaced Ukrainians with anything from transitional housing to building a social connection, settlement support and employment support,” said Grassroots director and founder Stephanie Goertz.
The program’s most recent expansion came just last week, with its first guest house in Centre Wellington.
The property, just five minutes from Elora, features six to seven bedrooms, a large kitchen, and multiple living rooms.
“We met the owner last week, we had a discussion and they’ve been kind of following what we’ve been doing for the last six months or so, and their property was available, so we decided to turn into a guest house,” said Goertz.
“And we tend to move quickly, so there’s no there’s no downtime; we already actually have a new family, mother and a daughter and a dog that just moved in.”
Grassroots works with landlords and property owners to obtain housing for newcomers.
After negotiating a price and a time frame of use, Grassroots places an individual or family into the space.
“We collect donations, and we have some program fees that we use to cover the cost of renting the house and utilities, because it allows Ukrainians then to have a safe place to live, be it families or single people,” said Goertz.
“We create wraparound support, so we work very closely with local volunteers, churches and service groups to offer support to people in the homes, providing pantry food items, all the furniture that they need, as well as household items, as well as collecting donations of clothing or other necessities that they might need.”
Volunteers also help provide essential transportation to doctor’s appointments, business meetings and job interviews.
“There’s typically anywhere between 20 and 30 volunteers that help out and assist the newcomers in a guest house, creating a large social network,” Goertz told the Advertiser.
The program’s mission is to get newcomers on their feet and in a place of financial security.
“We work on trying to find them employment so that they can start earning enough money. And the goal is to get them on their feet and moving out when they’re capable and have enough savings,” said Goertz.
“We’ve seen a huge success rate with the Ukrainians that are entering our programs, versus the Ukrainians that come into Canada and are pretty much left on their own.”
The program is currently seeking local volunteers, and Goertz says there is a job for everyone.
“If you’ve never thought about volunteering, or … you’re not a volunteer type of person, that’s perfectly okay,” said Goertz.
“Many of our volunteers are not volunteer type people … we allow volunteers to volunteer in a way that works for them and so just reach out to us, we’ll chat with you and figure out how you want to help.”
As well as volunteers, the program is looking to partner with local charities and organizations.
“We are currently looking at finding charities to work with in Elora and Wellington or across Ontario,” said Goertz.
“We know we constantly need to look for more partnerships in order to stay open.”
For more information, to donate, or to volunteer visit wrgrassrootsresponse.ca.
