REACH for youth receives no government funding

REACH Centre Grey Bruce is a self‐funded charity that provides programming to youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  As a self-funded charity, REACH receives no government funding. This program is vitally important to the community and relies solely on donations. The focus of their programming is on skill acquisition for independence and meaningful contribution to community.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the location that was previously donated to the organization has been closed, so they have had to find an alternate location, which unfortunately, has not been donated to them. Not only do they now have to pay monthly rent for their new space, they also will need to have some renovations completed to ensure the space is a safe and functional place for the participants.

The group is now faced with added expenses:

  • Installation of a kitchen in new location to ensure they can deliver their life-skills programming – $12,000 (including appliances)
  • Nutrition Program – $5,000/year (includes a healthy snack every day for every participant)
  • Life Skills Program – $2,500/year (includes everything from personal hygiene kits to safe social media use)
  • Fitness & Health Program – $2,500/year (includes things such as cost of adaptive equipment, municipal registration fees for participants, guest coaches/instructors)
  • Creative Expressions – $3,500/year (includes paint, brushes, materials to use mediums to find their voice)
  • Music, drama and dance – $2,500/year

With an inclusive approach, REACH focuses on fostering skill acquisition, independence and self advocacy.

One hundred per cent of all funds donated, go directly into the into program.