The Ripple Connection Support Centre is hoping to use a $125,000 donation from a Canadian insurance company, iA Financial, to expand their services to help homeless individuals living in the Barrhead area, along with additional supports for residents living with mental illness and their caregivers.
However, whether or not they get the $125,000 donation or have to settle for a donation of either $10,000 to $50,000 depends entirely on votes cast online via https://donations-contest.ia.ca.
“Vote, vote, vote. Our town depends on it,” said Ripple Connection Support Centre executive director Tracy Whitten.
Last week, iA Financial announced that 10 organizations across Canada were in the running to receive $295,000 in donations.
In 2017, the company had given out approximately $1.25 million in donations to Canadian non-profit organizations to celebrate iA Financial’s 125th anniversary. It opted to continue the giveaway this year, this time focusing on mental health organizations.
“The large number of charities who submitted projects last year really touched us,” said iA Financial Group president and CEO Denis Richard, in a release.
“We are very happy to have our philanthropic contest once again this year and in the years to come. We want to introduce and promote Canadian charities that are committed to the quality of life of Canadians, like us.”
iA Financial had put out a call in September to mental health organizations across the country, asking them to answer the question, “What more could you do with a donation of $125,000?”
Whitten said she became aware of the philanthropic contest when a board member brought it to her attention. She and her assistant director threw together a submission literally hours before the midnight deadline on Oct. 15.
Whitten said she was surprised to be notified that the Ripple Connection Support Centre was one of the 10 finalists in the nationwide contest. In fact, they are the only organization selected from all over Alberta.
As indicated earlier, the organization which receives the most votes through iA Financial’s website gets the $125,000 donation. The organizations with the second and third most votes get $50,000, while the remaining seven receive $10,000.
The voting continues until Nov. 30 and the results of the competition will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
Although any amount of funding is appreciated, “it would be (great to get the $125K),” Whitten said.
Ripple expanding
Even before the Ripple Connection Support Centre was entered in this contest, the non-profit organization was set to take over the entire building at 5310B 50th Street. The only other occupant of the building was Flower Lane, but they have moved out.
Whitten said they are expanding because of the need for their services in the Barrhead area.
Since she took over as executive director in June, much has changed at the Ripple Connection Support Centre. They still support individuals with mental illness and their caregivers, but they have expanded their focus.
“We’re not only that anymore. We’re for just anybody now,” Whitten said.
Whitten noted that with mental illness comes a lot of other issues like substance abuse and poverty. For that reason, they are now a referral agency, working hand in hand with Alberta Health Services, Alberta Addiction and Mental Health, Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and Income Supports.
The referrals are a two-way street, with the Ripple Connection Support Centre referring people on to other agencies and said agencies doing the same for Ripple.
They continue to run a hot lunch program where they serve cheap, nutritious meals from Monday to Thursday for $6 for non-members, $4 for members or $30 for 10 meals.
Besides keeping people fed, it helps teach those taking in the hot lunch program about proper nutrition.
“Sometimes it’s a family cycle and they’ve never been taught what a nutritious meal is,” Whiten said.
Besides the hot lunch program, they also help low-income people with filling out AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) forms.
They are also in the process of starting up regular support groups for individuals with mental illness and those who help look after them, including one such support group for caregivers starting on Nov. 14.
People with mental illness are sometimes in need of emergency help, but the process of getting that help can take a couple of weeks. Whitten said they offer some peer-to-peer discussion and support to help individuals get through that waiting period.
“Lots of people that are in crisis, they don’t have two weeks. They don’t have two minutes,” she said.
Between the hot lunch program and people coming into the Ripple Connection for other reasons, Whitten estimated they see about 20 people in the centre each day, though their client base is probably closer to 100.
Another program they would like to start offering is “warming rooms” for the homeless people in the Barrhead area.
A warming room is basically just a temporary overnight accommodation for individuals living on the street. While there aren’t many homeless people in the Barrhead area, they are out there, Whitten said.
“I know, because they’re coming in here,” she said. “They’re sleeping under stairways and stuff like that in quilted coveralls and then they’re coming here during the day.”
Whitten acknowledged that a warming room is just a short-term solution until something better can be worked out.
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