Mother’s Day is a very special time of year here at Youville Centre. By participating in this annual initiative, your contribution will go towards helping us to continue to support our young moms and their children. Last year we raised $3,500 and this year it is our goal to raise $5,000!

The first name of each mother who is honoured will be written on a paper tulip and displayed around our centre to show our young moms the wonderful support they have from our donor community.

This year we also made a small card that you can give to your mother or to anyone you are honouring this Mother’s Day. We are also mailing a hard copy to everyone on our newsletter mailing list but if you prefer to donate online, please feel free to print this out.

How to Donate

Online:

Click on any image above and it will lead you directly to Youville Centre’s Canada Helps page where you can donate online. Please tell us your mother’s first name in the Message/Instructions field.

Lettermail/In-Person:

Print out this page and fill out the information on the donation card above and either mail it to us or drop it off at 150 Mann Avenue, Ottawa ON K1N 8P4.

Phone:

Call in your information to (613) 231-5150 Ext. 128.

Thank you for considering this unique way of celebrating Mother’s Day! Please consider sharing this message within your networks.

Please note, tax receipts will be mailed to everyone who donates $25 or more (as per Canada Revenue Agency guidelines for tax receipts).

If you have any questions, please contact us at (613) 231-5150 Ext. 128.

Happy Mother’s Day!

If you’ve come to visit us at Youville Centre recently you may have seen our newly renovated student lounge.

Get ready to gasp! Here are some photos of the completed lounge:

What a beautiful room for our students to relax in, to read, watch a movie, have a snack and just enjoy some “me time”. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of local Interior Designer Sonya Kinkade and her husband Daryl Kinkade (D.E. Kinkade Konstruction), as well as Sonya’s colleagues, otherwise known as the TBBs, a group of independent Interior Designers who collaborate on a lifestyle blog about wine, food, design, shopping and travel; who also work together to give back to their community.

L to R: Daryl Kinkade, Mary Anne Van Gaal, Nicole Duguay, Sonya Kinkade, Donna Hargrove, Lisa Goulet and Maureen Coates.

This extreme makeover was all due to an initiative called Kindness Week (February 15-22), hosted by The Caring & Sharing Exchange and chaired by Rabbi Reuven Bulka. Kindness Week is a program designed to promote acts of kindness throughout the city – from buying a coffee for the person behind you in line, to doing volunteer work, to thanking someone in a significant way. For the third year in a row, Sonya and her team have donated their time and design talent to an organization in need to makeover one room. This year Youville Centre’s young moms were the lucky recipients of Sonya and her team’s kindness.

Sonya, Daryl and the TBBs did an unbelievable job in transforming the small space we had available for the student lounge. Staff and students alike were overwhelmed by the completed room! Many thanks to Sonya, the TBBs, Daryl, and all of the sponsors (listed below) who donated furniture, electronics and other design elements to help make this extreme makeover a success! Scroll down for more photos, courtesy of Sonya Kinkade and taken by Danielle Lynn Photography!

Thank you to all who donated to our extreme makeover:
 
D.E. Kinkade Konstruction LTD
The TBBs
Danielle Lynn Photography
Brent Kelly Painting
Barwood Flooring
IKEA Canada
La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries
The Upper Room
Kravet Fabrics
Alexanian Carpet & Flooring
Tamarack Developments
Car-O-Practor
Spotlight Hair Studio & Spa
Future Shop
Stylish Fireplaces by Huntington Lodge
Climate Works
Faye Fortune Drapery
European Glass & Paint
C & M Textiles
Infinity Bookkeeping & Accounting
Everyday Grace

On Thursday, February 28th, Youville Centre’s young mothers hosted a very special Appreciation Tea for volunteers, donors, and partners who have supported Youville Centre in immeasurable ways. The entire event was orchestrated by the students as a way of expressing their gratitude to the wonderful people who support them and their children at Youville Centre.

As guests entered Kinsella Hall, they were greeted by a young mom and they received a special thank you card, made with love by our students. The cards had a heartfelt message of thanks and a photo of a young mom and baby that is currently enrolled at Youville Centre.

Tea was served by the students, and guests enjoyed a selection of sandwiches and baked goods that were decided upon and prepared by the young moms. A slideshow displayed photos of volunteers and current students and children for all to enjoy, and the room was cheerfully decorated with artwork courtesy of Youville Centre’s littlest artists, the toddlers.

Guests also enjoyed a surprise treat in the form of a “thank you” song performed by all of the students. It was heartwarming to see people waving their hands back and forth in time to the song and even a few joyful tears were shed.

The Appreciation Tea was such a great way to reward all of the selfless individuals who support Youville’s young moms and their children. It is because of people like you in our community that we are able to continue providing the best possible programs and services to our clients here at Youville Centre.

On behalf of all of the young moms and children of Youville Centre, we thank you!

Please join us!

An excellent manager with natural leadership ability, Cathy provided Youville Centre’s young moms with a listening ear, a loving attitude and a wealth of advice on parenting and child development. We will surely miss Cathy as she moves into the next stage of her career, but we look forward to welcoming our new Child Devlopment Program Coordinator soon and we will enjoy introducing her to our greater Youville community in a future blog story.

To wish Cathy well, we held a surprise get-together with all current students, children and staff members. Roses were given to Cathy by the students with each young mom thanking her for a different quality she brought to the centre, such as a sense of humour, a listening ear and for “being real”. A handmade card was presented as well as a collage of photos in a frame, and the celebration was topped off with a cake!

Many thanks to Cathy for her dedicated, loyal and passionate years of service to Youville Centre’s young moms and their children. You will be missed.

*Note: we no longer offer services to preschool aged children.

On a snowy day last week, a group of Youville moms and their teachers braved the cold and enjoyed a fun and exciting field trip to the Rideau Canal! Everyone laced up their skates and bundled up in their winter gear; both of which were generously donated and loaned to our students by donors and staff members. It is always so wonderful when we can combine our Fitness Program with a fun-filled field trip and offer our young moms an experience they may not otherwise have the time or resources to experience.

Our Youville moms showed off their graceful moves and positive attitudes during this skating trip, and they enjoyed getting out on the canal for a unique fitness class.

If you’d like to support our skating trips in the future, we are always hoping for donations of skates, winter coats, snowpants, mitts, hats and scarves.Please contact us at (613) 231-5150 Ext. 128 if you’d like to donate.

Happy Skating, everyone!

We were fortunate enough to be able to kick off A Leader in My Own Life with an inspiring, motivational speech from Dress for Success Ottawa’s Chair (and new mom) Marlene Floyd.

Marlene focused on dreaming big and the understanding the value of networking and treating others with respect as you move through your career and your life. She shared her own personal story with our young moms and inspired them to keep reaching for their dreams regardless of any life circumstance. Our students enjoyed meeting Marlene and her precious daughter who came along for the talk.

Thank you, Marlene! You truly inspired our young moms!

We look forward to continuing this course as we have many other wonderful women as guest speakers and facilitators lined up to add value to the course content.

On Wednesday, December 19th, Youville Centre Staff, Board Members and special guest volunteers hosted a Christmas Lunch for our young mothers and their children. This year the annual lunch was even more special as we extended the invitation to an important person in each young mother’s life.

Some of our students brought their friends, some brought their mother or another important family member, and some brought their partner, the father of their child. It was a beautiful sight to see our young mothers enjoying a festive, hot meal complete with turkey, mashed potatoes and all the fixings with their children and their family members and partners.

The lunch began with a special blessing from Father Steve, a personal friend of Youville Centre, followed by an adorable rendition of Jingle Bells by our toddlers in the SnapDragon and Daisy Rooms who thoroughly enjoyed the bells they got to shake while they sang!

Then Youville Centre Staff, Board Members and special guests served the young moms and their families, and everyone enjoyed their meal. It was a sight to see with high chairs and bibs, turkey, peas and cranberry sauce! Needless to say it was a lively lunch!

After lunch, the Youville Centre Choir sang Ave Maria and led us in a few Christmas Carols. It was touching to see our young moms showing confidence and singing their hearts out! We have a very talented choir!

The Christmas Lunch could not be complete without the arrival of Santa who had a candy cane for the children, and Mrs. Claus (a.k.a. our Executive Director, Cindy Simpson) who had grocery gift cards for each of our 48 students sponsored by The Christmas Cheer Foundation.

Pictured above, L to R: Youville Centre student Hannah and her son, Executive Director Cindy Simpson, and a representative from the Christmas Cheer Foundation.

To cap things off, Youville Centre Staff sang “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” to all in attendance. Just when we thought the lunch was coming to an end, a few of our young moms took the stage to thoughtfully thank all of the staff and community members for everything that was given to them leading up to Christmas, and they presented us with a large handmade thank you card.

A festive time was had by all and it wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of the staff and volunteers here at Youville Centre, and we must also thank the parishes of St. Philip’s and St. Clare in Richmond for providing much of the food for this event. Also special thanks to Father Steve and to everyone who helped serve at the lunch.

See you in 2013!

Thanks to the many generous corporate, individual and community donors who support Youville Centre, Christmas is much brighter each year for our young mothers and their children. At Youville, we do as much as we can to ensure that each young mom’s essential needs are met first, and second, that each of them and their children have some special gifts at this festive time of year.

For many of our students, this will be the first year that they experience a Christmas holiday with traditions, decorations and gifts for themselves and their children. In the weeks preparing for Christmas, we are busy elves, receiving gifts, food, diapers, gift cards, bus tickets and other essentials and treats for our young mothers, and we hide them away in Santa’s Workshop.

On two special days, we open the Christmas “You-Store”. For those of you who have toured our facility, you may be familiar with the You-Store — it is an incentive-based store stocked with brand new items and treats for mom and baby, all donated to us from generous community members and donors. “You-Bucks” are earned to spend in the You-Store when our students display good attendance, positive attitude, volunteer spirit and good effort in parenting.

The You-Store is open all year round, however, the Christmas You-Store is extra special with brand new toys donated from the community for the children of Youville Centre. Each young mother enjoys shopping through the store and selecting three special toys for their child.

When shopping is done, the students head to the wrapping stations and carefully wrap each package for their child. It is wonderful to overhear the excitement that occurs during these two special shopping days at Youville Centre.

On behalf of Youville Centre’s young mothers and their children, our sincere thanks goes out to everyone who donated to us this year leading up to Christmas. It is because of your generosity of spirit that Christmas will be brighter for our young moms and their children.

Merry Christmas!

On Friday, December 14th, Dr. Tom Harle, Dental Clinic Coordinator Anthea Chang and students in the Dental Hygiene Program brought “Keep Smiling Day” to Youville Centre. Our young mothers were able to peruse the colourful, educational display that the students put together and they gathered practical knowledge about dental care and received free samples of dental products to promote their oral health routines at home.

Spearheaded by Dr. Harle who is also known for his work at The Ottawa Mission, Youville Centre’s Portable Dental Clinic serves our 48 students and their children who are one year old or older once a week. Services provided include education, hygiene and restorative care. In the future this clinic initiative will serve other agencies in Ottawa who also serve women and children. We are so grateful to have Dr. Harle, Anthea and their team volunteering their time each week to provide this essential care to Youville Centre’s young mothers and their children. Many thanks go out to everyone involved with Keep Smiling Day!