TORONTO Canadian charities and food banks are struggling to help the millions of vulnerable citizens who are relying on their services more than ever. Nearly 70 per cent of Canadian charities are dealing with a drop in donations and 70 per cent have fewer volunteers compared to the start of the pandemic. “What we’ve seen just from a numbers perspective in Toronto, is about 65,000 clients visits every single month pre-pandemic, and that number has skyrocketed to over 110,000 every single month,” Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. Last year, Canadians donated $17 billion to charities, but this year they could see up to a 37-per-cent drop in donations due to the pandemic.
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Studio Dreamshare, in collaboration with PFLAG Canada, is delivering an arts program to support the mental health of local LGBTQ2S youth. From January-March 2021, the studio is offering Rainbow Art Club for five in-person participants, and eight remote participants on a weekly basis across the Ottawa Valley.
“We are offering remote delivery during COVID-19 because not only is it safer for the community, but queer youth are spread out across our rural region and might not be able to get to Pembroke easily for an in-person class,” said Cameron Montgomery, director at Studio Dreamshare. “Getting to hang out with other queer kids, even virtually, is so important for mental health.”