WELLINGTON COUNTY – For the month of December, Co-operators will be matching donations to The Grove Youth Wellness Hubs as part of the “Open the Door” campaign.
Supported by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), the campaign aims to support local youth services.
The CMHA website describes it as “multiple agencies, multiple services, one door.”
“Knowing that we can support young people in our home communities was really important to us,” said Shawna Peddle, Co-operators associate vice president.
“It’s easy for us to be able to make those decisions and to want to do what we can to support young people in the local communities at that time when our need is so great.”
Co-operators has supported the Grove since its opening, officials say.
“When we launched our initial fundraising campaign … the Co-operators were one of the early supporters who jumped up and said, ‘Hey, we want to help,’” said The Grove executive director Jeff Hoffman.
According to Hoffman, this year’s funding will be put towards expanding wellness programming and services after a dramatic increase in youth accessing services and seeking support over the last year.
Hoffman told the Advertiser he doesn’t have the data for November yet, but he expects to see a similar increase.
“Our wellness program has doubled in the first 10 months of the year, … up to the end of October, we’ve had twice as many visits compared to the same time last year, and November is going to be the same for us, for sure,” Hoffman said.
Peddle said she isn’t surprised by the increase in demand and attributes the rising numbers to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Think about everything that youth have been through over the past few years, right through a pandemic, and all the disruption that went along with that, and they’re having to learn how to go to school at home, and then having to go back into school again, and everything that comes now into looking at a job market and a future and a housing situation, that’s stressful, absolutely stressful for young people,” said Peddle.
Co-operators has made a donation of $50,000 and hopes to match the community to raise a total of $100,000 for the Grove.
“We’ve been supporting the growth for four or five years now, and we will continue into the future,” Peddle said.
Donations to the Grove can be made at thegrovehubs.ca.
Due to the current Canada Post strike, Hoffman said those donating via cash or cheque can email hello@thegrovehubs.ca to arrange a donation pick-up or drop-off.
“We’re thankful to Cooperators for stepping up to provide this amazing match for our community,” said Hoffman.
“It really will double our impact this holiday season, which is just amazing.
‘In a time when more and more young people need our support, we’re going to be able to be here for that because of the Co-operators and because our community stepped up.”
