Winter News to Warm You Up.

The warmest thank you for the coldest night!

February 20th was an AMAZING day! We raised over $190,000 and ranked 4th out of 149 communities across Canada. Our team has spent much time processing, enjoying photos of walkers, reading all of the encouraging words, heartfelt stories, and taking in all of the energy and spirit that came from the participation. On behalf of the entire organization, thank you! 

As Karyn Baker, Board of Directors Chair said "This is more than just funds raised. This is a community that has come together to tackle a big problem". It takes a community like South Georgian Bay to make this happen and we are grateful to our sponsors, volunteers, captains, walkers, and donors.

Follow our journey including more great pictures from the event on instagram. If you missed the opening ceremonies, not to worry! You can still watch it here. 

Meet Garth Martin: Board member & former Chair for Home Horizon

We would like to start introducing you to members of our team and in this newsletter, we are featuring Garth Martin. Garth began his vocational career as a chemical engineer but after 6 years switched careers to the social services. He holds a PhD in Social Work. For over 40 years, he worked and consulted in the field of addictions treatment, administration and research with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He was cross-appointed to the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto where he was also a Director of the Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies.

Garth became a Board member in 2006 shortly after Home Horizon began providing service. He served as Treasurer and Vice Chair before becoming Chair in 2012. Being Chair was a very rewarding journey for Garth and he reflects proudly on the developments of Home Horizon including: “achieving our dream of a place of our own with the construction of Barbara Weider House, thanks to the generous support of George Weider, Ray Smith and generous donors; expanding our programs to include badly needed prevention services and evolving from a working/management board to a policy governance model emphasis.” Garth looks back with pride and gratitude to all that Board members, volunteers, staff and a generous community have done to help Home Horizon evolve to the mature, effective and compassionate service it is today.

We support vulnerable youth. 

The first step in dealing with youth facing homelessness is to help them find a safe roof over their head. This could be the Barbara Weider House or helping to connect them with other housing service organizations in our community. The first priority is they need to be safe and inside for the night. In addition, we offer access to counselling and social and life skills programs to help our clients successfully rebuild their lives and transition to independent living and adulthood.

The goal is to support vulnerable youth in rebuilding their lives and integrating back into their communities, as opposed to continuing down a path of homelessness that may lead to larger problems. The key to our approach is that the youth are provided with a range of support programs that will help them learn life skills, have positive relationships with peers and adults, and re-engage with school, employment training, and/or employment. Learn more about the important work that we do in our community at homehorizon.ca.

An important part of our programming is the Family Reconciliation Program. One of the ways we are able to support our youth is to assess what took them from stability to instability and what ultimately led to them being at risk. These situations range anywhere from drug and alcohol addiction to mental illness including some congenital disorders. Most often, there are disagreements between the youth, the caregivers, parents, guardians and even seniors within the household. More often than not, these disagreements are resolvable and we have found success in the majority of cases with which we’ve been involved with the safety of youth always at the core of our efforts. 


Looking for more information on our fundraising efforts? Contact Fund Development Manager Deb Piggott: debpiggott@homehorizon.ca | 705-888-3636