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Generous Donor Provides Winter Wear for Youville’s Children

With such a cold and unpredictable winter this year, our young moms and their children needed warm snowsuits, boots, hats and mitts more than ever. We are quite glad to see the snow melting, as we are always happy to see Spring on the horizon!

We are grateful to all of our donors who provide the outerwear that is needed for rapidly growing babies and toddlers! One such donor, who was recently interviewed for CBC Radio and Television, is our good friend Gavin. In a short time, Gavin has used his deft skills in finding the best shopping bargains, and has donated multitudes of different items to the centre, including food, clothing, baby bottles, hygiene products, toys, and more!

Gavin’s generosity just keeps on giving, and recently he stopped by with brand new snowsuits and boots which were part of a shopping trip in which he saved 76% on his purchase (which is actually a low savings for him) and he was able to purchase snowsuits for Youville’s children, as well as the Snowsuit Fund and the refugees from Syria.

Gavin was able to purchase $7044.45 worth of children’s snowsuits and boots for $1642.26 to be shared between the organizations!!

As you can see from the photos above, our young moms were very pleased to be able to pick out some brand new winter wear for their little ones.

You can read Gavin’s blog, “Frugalitiness: The Art of Being Frugal” and see all of the amazing work he is doing to help local charities such as Youville Centre. We also look forward to welcoming Gavin again when he speaks to our students in our new Transition Course, a course in which our young moms are learning more skills and gathering valuable information from staff and guest speakers alike, to even better prepare them for “life after Youville”.

It’s always a good day when Gavin stops by, and we so appreciate his generosity, attention to detail, and understanding of the needs of our clients.

Thank you, Gavin!

Extreme Makeover: Kindness Week Edition!

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

 

Empower a Young Mother this Holiday Season

The Holidays are a joyful time, however they can also be difficult for some. At this time of year we are always quite fortunate to receive generous support for our young mothers and their children, and we are very appreciative. Based on the most urgent needs of our clients, this year we decided to create a Holiday Giving Guide, highlighting the items needed most by our young mothers and their babies.

It is also important to us to empower our clients to purchase their own gifts for their children to put under the tree, so we have added gift cards to our wish list. Please take a look at our giving guide below for some ideas of how best to assist the young mothers and children of Youville Centre at this time of year.

Your donation not only empowers our clients, it also creates a more joyful holiday season for their children and their families. Please accept our humble gratitude and contact us directly if you would like to donate this holiday season.

Young Moms Receive the Gift of Fashion

On Friday, June 17th, Youville Centre’s young moms received the gift of fashion from a local consignment shop, AMH Style. In a young mother’s life, thoughts often go to diapers, formula, doctor’s appointments and clothing for her child. It is rare that our young moms have the chance to shop for clothing for themselves, let alone for fashionable, current styles. Lucky for us, AMH Style, a consignment store in Westboro contacted us and came to the Centre to provide a little treat for our graduates and other students as they were preparing for summer.

Armed with purses, shoes, sunglasses, jeans and an array of other fashionable items of clothing, the AMH Style team went to work helping our students choose some new clothing for themselves.

“Thank you” was a common phrase heard that afternoon, as our students really enjoyed this special treat. Our thanks go out to Allison, Joanna and the rest of the team at AMH Style for their generosity, positivity and of course, their great sense of style!