MTH has a $218,000 Ontario Trillium Foundation grant!

This fabulous news arrived in early April and we announced it at the Empty Bowls Soup Lunch on April 19. The grant will cover a period of three years and will cover about 30% of our annual operating budget each year.

What does this mean for MTH?
MORE HOUSING UNITS:
OTF granted this funding to allow MTH to grow from three to ten supported housing units by the end of 2018. The plan is to add two new units in each of 2015, 2016 and 2017, and a final one in 2018. MTH has already contracted to add a fourth unit this summer and expect to add the fifth in the fall.

EXPANDING SERVICE:
This funding will also pay for the first year of our Case Manager(s) salary to support the participants who will join MTH’s program in the new units in their journey “from HOPE to HOME”. The screening for a new participant / participant family for the fourth unit coming online is already in progress.

GROWING THE ORGANIZATION:
The OTF funding will also provide seed funding to hire a half-time Program Manager who will oversee the participant part of MTH’s program. This will free up Donna to build the organization and look for the new sources of funding that will be necessary to support ten units long-term. The funding will also allow MTH to contract for a quarter-time bookkeeper / administrative assistant to help keep the organization running smoothly.

RAISING AWARENESS:
Finally, OTF recognizes the need for MTH to raise the awareness of Milton / Halton residents surrounding the problem of homelessness and a publicity strategy is currently being developed to accomplish this goal.

1st Habitat for Humanity rises in Milton

I was delighted to see the new and first Habitat for Humanity house going up in Milton off Bronte Street South.

It is great to see another family being provided a helping hand of a different sort. It marks an important milestone for another housing project partner, Habitat for Humanity. We will keep you posted.

Milton Downtown Street Festival

Volunteers from Milton Transitional Housing were on Main Street today surrounded by lots of kids getting temporary tattoos.


Ruth, John & Alex on the Milton Transitional Housing stand on Main Street

Again it proved an important opportunity to connect with the local Milton community.

We had hoped to get some videos with the volunteers. This was tough however, given the proximity to one of the band stages. It was a lively day in the most beautiful weather. Videos will follow another time. Here is a snippet of video of the Milton Transitional Housing booth.







Thanks as always to all the volunteers today.

Empty Bowls media coverage

It is great to see Milton Transitional Housing's 5th annual Empty Bowls covered in both SNAP Milton and the Milton Canadian Champion. Thanks to both and other media for your coverage.

SNAP Milton reports that 150 Milton residents and their families attended this Empty Bowls. MTH reported they had raised in the region of $7,500. The Milton Canadian Champion have long been strong supporters for what became Milton Transitional Housing since our early beginnings in 2008. You may also recall that it was their own homelessness front page headline that stimulated a small band of us to act in the first place.