Red Door Family Shelter announces fall programs to engage with kids in the community

As the summer comes to an end and children head back to school, Red Door Family Shelter announces their fall programs tailored to children integrating back into the education system. 

“From the fall program, we get more into the school structure and routine. It’s really important for all of us,” said Wanda Lougheed, Director of Client Services at Red Door. 

“We’re looking at kids at this point in time that have experienced trauma; that have experienced a great disruption in their life. They’re dealing with a lot of things. So the piece of structure and the routine becomes a really important part of the things that we offer, and it’s really to take time to help them mentally, physically, and socially adapt.” 

Operating in Leslieville since 1982, Red Door Family Shelter has been providing supportive services and shelter to mothers fleeing abuse to keep their kids safe, refugees seeking sanctuary, and families in crisis. 

Red Door offers seasonal programs including summer camps, outdoor excursions and exercise, and educational lessons involving arts and music. 

Programs offered during the fall are designed to help ease children’s integration back into the school system, with special homework programs, school liaisons, as well as education programs focused on helping kids adjust to the school transition, and relieve pressure on parents navigating the shelter system. 

“We have a homework club, we have child and youth workers that work on homework with them – because parents are very stressed at this time in their lives, and they’re working on challenges themselves. So when they can have their children involved with someone that will help them with their homework, it just eases some of that stress,” said Lougheed. 

Each year, Red Door supports over 200 families in their shelters, according to information provided on their website. 

Red Door offers several support systems designed to help visitors transition back into society — with access to food and shelter support, basic needs, case management and legal resources, counselling, immigration support, child and youth programming, mental health services, parenting programs, and pathways to housing.  

“In the process, what we’re doing is we’re helping families to rebuild their lives and get reestablished in the community to go on and be hopeful about what’s ahead of them,” said Lougheed. 

According to Lougheed, 60 per cent of the shelter’s clientele are children of the families they’re supporting. The shelter also supports refugees and newcomers to Canada who require housing. 

Lougheed said many of those who find housing through Red Door’s services often find themselves using the shelter’s outreach support services after transitioning from the shelter. 

“Once they’re housed and just before they leave, they go into our outreach program if they choose. And pretty much 93 per cent of the clients that have been in the shelter who get housed will go into our outreach program, which provides a continuum of services that assist them with either childcare or legal services, having kids go to camp. But for most, it is the food bank that they come back for,” she said. 

The most significant challenge faced by the shelter is finding its visitors affordable housing in light of the city’s ongoing housing crisis — an issue which puts pressure on all aspects of affordability. 

“The costs of housing in Toronto are astronomical, and I think that things are getting more and more expensive,” said Lougheed. “And then also even just in terms of meeting your kids’ needs. Kids grow, kids need things. They’re in schools where they see other people have things that they don’t have. I think it’s the demands that are challenging on everybody.”

Lougheed believes the city needs to embrace the housing crisis with a rational and unified approach from all levels of government. 

“I think the issue really becomes something that the city also has to grapple with and that’s the stock of housing. We’ve got a lot of people coming into Toronto, and there aren’t enough places for people to live,” said Lougheed. 

“Politicians working together is something that does become extremely important for anyone that’s homeless.” 

Despite the challenges, Lougheed remains thankful for the support Red Door receives from the community.   

“We have an absolutely wonderful donor base. We have an amazing group of people within our community and abroad in terms of not just the immediate community, but wider than that. They are very generous in that sense in terms of keeping our programs going and being supportive of the cause and recognizing the great work that we do,” said Lougheed. 

With their annual Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser event in February, Red Door is always looking for members of the community to get involved and volunteer.  “We have our signature fundraising event Coldest Night of the Year, and with that, we absolutely need groups of volunteers in that. 

Another upcoming fundraiser (which supports both Red Door and Nellie’s shelter) is the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation Night Light Walk set for the night of Thursday, Oct. 23 in the Beach. For more on this event, please see the ad on Page 11 of today’s newspaper.

When asked about the impact of community support, Lougheed underscored the importance of supporting families and children in need. 

“There’s a piece that comes to mind for me. ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ Although we are an organization, we can’t do it without the help from the community and the donors,” said Lougheed. 

“When they support us, they’re really supporting the children and the families that we support. They’re helping them get back into the community and restoring their life. They’re helping them with the healing process and the trauma. And you know what, that’s a pretty worthy cause.” 

For more information about Red Door Family Shelter, head to their website at https://www.reddoorshelter.ca/