For the next month, the Windsor Residence for Young Men is hosting their "Invest in Citizenship" campaign, in honour of Canada Day.
This year, a group of private community members have come together to provide $20,000 to match donations made to the campaign throughout the month of June.
WRYM assists youth to overcome homelessness and build new lives by providing housing, aftercare, and outreach services for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness between the ages 16-24 who are male.
Any donation marked "citizenship" that is received until July 2 will be eligible to be doubled by the matching funds, until the total amount is reached or the campaign ends.
Jason Weinberg, Executive Director of Windsor Residence for Young Men, says this campaign is in honour of Canada Day and active citizenship.
"A group of five citizens they put together $20,000 in matching funds in honour of citizenship and investing in those most vulnerable populations. And anybody who donates during the month of June up until July 1 can double their impact because each donation will matched dollar-for-dollar."
He says the money raised will go towards numerous programs.
"Transitional Housing, Outreach Services, Life Skills Programming, and really what we do is we help youth from street to home, making sure that we address whatever needs they have. They get stabilized in our Housing Program, and we find appropriate places for them to live, so that involves staffing costs, food for the youth, and all their basic needs."
Weinberg says it's crucial to hold campaigns like these to keep WRYM programs running.
"If we're not able to make a difference in these youths lives, then they're maybe looking at a lifetime of difficult trauma and difficult times contributing back to the community. So in order to help them, we help the community as a whole, and so we fully believe that to help homelessness end we have to be working with those at a young age to overcomes the problems they're facing today."
Donations can be made by cheque to the organization, as well as online as found through Windsor Residence for Young Men's website.