Right now, Toronto's homeless need our help more than ever before. While life as we know it has changed drastically, the fight continues for our community’s most vulnerable and the frontline workers that serve them.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, our partner beneficiaries in Toronto have faced a number of increasing costs including additional staffing to help support the shelters high volume of guests, sanitation costs due to the increased scope and frequency of cleaning, personal protective equipment (PPE) to help keep their front-line staff protected and vulnerable residents safe and higher food supply costs as a result of more and more Canadians utilizing the system.
Net proceeds from the Bay St. Tournament will be donated directly to Eva's Initiatives to support their important work with homeless and at-risk youth in the GTA.
Thanks to the support from HHTH Bay St Tournament, homeless or at-risk youth in Toronto and the GTA have been given a fresh start. Through their partnership with Eva’s Initiatives, HHTH has provided shelter and housing to young people by helping fund Eva’s Safe Shelter and Essential Supports program. This program gives youth aged 16-25 access to emergency shelters, as well as 24/7 crisis support to meet their immediate needs including food, housing and healthcare.
Funding has also allowed the team at Eva’s to maintain their Recreation, Health and Wellness Program which provides youth the opportunity to engage in physical activity, sports, community events and artistic programming to promote their physical and mental well-being. As a Benefactor, Hockey Helps the Homeless provides 10% of the funds donated through individuals, companies and grants required for the organization to provide young people with safe shelter and essential supports and recreation, health, and wellness programming.
All funds raised in Toronto stay in Toronto. Approximately 20% of the Canadian homeless population are young people between the ages of 16-24 and it is estimated that there are at least 10,000 homeless youth in Toronto during the year, and as many as 2,000 on any given night. 50% of homeless youth come from middle- and upper-income families and almost 70% of youth identify fighting, physical abuse, psychological abuse, parental drug and alcohol-related issues and sexual abuse as the major reasons for them leaving home.
Eva's Initiatives offers a variety of services for urban homeless and at-risk youth, including 3 shelters that each offer an innovative combination of programs and services. Every year, approximately 1,600 youth are provided with safe shelter at one of Eva’s three shelters and an additional 2,000 youth are provided with access to training and education programs. These programs include employment and training, harm reduction, family reconnection and transitional housing, amongst many others.
- At any given time in Canada, there are more than 65,000 young people without a place to call home. Source
- There are at least 10,000 homeless youth during the year in Toronto
- Approximately 2,000 young people are homeless every night in Toronto
- Over 948 young people aged 16-24 were residents at Eva’s in 2017
- Over 2,000 youth were involved in Eva’s recreation programming
- 655 youth were involved in 123 excursions in 2018
