Stories to Share

Meeting a Community Need – HART HUB

Posted on: July 4th, 2025

House of Friendship is excited to partner with Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo to provide HART Hub services in Waterloo Region. Through HART (Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment) Hubs, the Province of Ontario is investing almost $550 million to support people who are experiencing homelessness and living with addiction. Through the program, community members will connect with […]

Getting Vital Care While Homeless

Posted on: June 27th, 2025

You might not realize it to look at him today, but Stephen has always been a hard worker. He used to work six days a week at Food Basics in shipping and receiving. “Now, I couldn’t even do a day,” said Stephen. Stephen, now 66, was diagnosed with scleroderma three years ago – a fatal autoimmune […]

Surviving to Meet a Brighter Future

Posted on: June 20th, 2025

Cora-Lee is a survivor. As a child, she endured incredible abuse – from being thrown out a window as a baby, to being treated like a maid by her adoptive family when she was a teenager. Cora-Lee never felt accepted, and never felt like she fit in. With all of this turmoil and rejection, it […]

New Job, Same Values

Posted on: May 16th, 2025

Dawn Gill’s recent career change might sound like a sharp departure from her long-time role as House of Friendship’s Development Officer. Certainly, her current position as Constituency Coordinator for her Member of Parliament invites a lot of questions about the ins and outs of political life. But she simply sees it as another way to […]

“We Help Every Way we Can”

Posted on: May 9th, 2025

Dilara* came to Canada in search of a better life. She left her homeland of Turkey, after struggling with a difficult, abusive marriage. While Dilara had to leave her adult children behind, her 17-year-old daughter, Melek, joined her for the journey. Their dangerous trek to Canada took them through several countries, including Mexico and the […]

Reading Buddies Makes Learning Fun

Posted on: May 2nd, 2025

Learning to read was never this much fun at school. Every week, children drop into Courtland Shelley Community Centre as part of Reading Buddies – a program designed to help them improve their literacy. But for the kids themselves, it’s all about the fun. First up, a video, where “Chris the Word Wiz” shares a […]

A Lifeline of Support

Posted on: April 25th, 2025

When Meghety first came to Canada, she found it hard to find a place to belong. If you met Meghety today, all you would see is her wonderful smile. She would tell you how much she loves visiting her favorite place in the world, at our Sunnydale Community Centre. But it wasn’t that long ago […]

Providing Fresh, Affordable Food

Posted on: January 10th, 2025

Fresh, affordable food isn’t easy to come by these days – and it’s doubly challenging when you are trying to make ends meet with very limited income. That thought was the inspiration behind the Neighbourhood Summer Market, now in its second year at Centreville-Chicopee Community Centre. The program, funded in part by the “Love My […]

Solving Problems Through Monthly Giving

Posted on: January 3rd, 2025

Mike Kirkup likes to solve problems. Mike came to Waterloo Region as a University of Waterloo computer science student in 1996 and has spent his entire career working in the tech community, including Research in Motion, as well as his current role as Chief Technology Officer at EnPowered. And through all of these years, there […]

Providing More than Shelter

Posted on: December 27th, 2024

A key priority for House of Friendship’s ShelterCare program is to provide a sense of community and belonging for participants. One way this is happening is through recreational programming. On any given day, participants can choose from art and craft activities, a games night, or even bingo. There is even a pet therapy dog who […]

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