The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families is turning to the public for help.
The organization states that despite recording-breaking community awareness, volunteer engagement, and in-kind donations this year, the shelter is facing financial trouble.
The shelter remains hundreds of thousands of dollars short of the more than half a million dollars required to break even by year's end.
According to Lady Laforet, the Executive Director of the Welcome Centre Shelter, the shelter is facing a deficit of over $100,000 for core programs that are donation covered.
The Welcome Centre Shelter is calling on the community to ensure that vital services to low-income women and children in Windsor-Essex are not lost.
Laforet says this would be a deficit unlike anything she's seen in over 20 years.
"We want to complete the year before any decision making because we understand the impacts that potential first things like layoffs could have on the organization. If that were to occur, the programs that we would be scaling back on would likely be our peer and our kids programming, which though donation funded are actually two of our most impactful programs."
She says they typically receive many donations around the holiday's.
"Our concern is honestly that's still just too far away, and without the community knowing now, we can't guarantee that we're going to be able to fill that gap before we hit the holiday's. So we wanted to really get it out and get it in top of mind awareness for people before we hit those times."
She says multiple programs they offered are completely unfunded by upper levels of government.
"Our kids programming that is really focused on making sure that kids who are experiencing homelessness are also registered in school - unfunded. Our peers who are women with lived experience of homelessness and poverty, who give a perspective to daily interactions that I can't give, or my staff can't give - totally unfunded. The fact that we're seeing over 2,000 hours a year in volunteer support, our volunteer coordinator is 20 hours a week - unfunded."
Laforet adds that donations can be made by cheque, e-transfer, or directly on the shelter's website.
The Welcome Centre Shelter has been a vital support system for women, children, and families in Windsor-Essex. The shelter offers emergency shelter, transitional housing, and wraparound supports.