'We can certainly try': Windsor-Essex charities need your help in May
The VON, the Soup Shack and Windsor Lifeline Outreach are all spending May collecting donations.
Here's how you can help.
The VON’s pasta nights
Every Wednesday in May, $8 will buy you all-you-can-eat pasta, salad and a roll.
It will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Riverside Sportsmen Club.
“It's amazing how the name VON just rings a bell with people,” board member Carole Gray told CTV News Windsor. “When I went around to ask for donations for our event, most of the people I spoke with said they've either been touched by VON somehow, for a family member.”
Each Wednesday they will also raffle off a basket of wine from local wineries.
In addition to the well known ‘Meals on Wheels’ program, VON offers programs including a school snack program, helping to keep seniors in their homes and helping caregivers care for their sick family members.
“Everyone loves to take care of their loved ones themselves [but] it's difficult to do it alone. So we're there to have that support,” Gray said.
A flyer advertising VON Windsor-Essex's pasta night fundraiser taking place in May 2024. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)
If the Shoe Fits for the Soup Shack
New and gently used shoes can be donated all month long at the Canadian Tires stores in Windsor.
It’s the second year for a campaign organized by Rotarian Sasha Syed.
The shoes will be given to clients of the Soup Shack, a mobile soup kitchen operating in Windsor that feeds the unhoused.
“The average homeless person is walking about 20 kilometers per day compared to the housed individuals walking about three kilometers per day,” said Syed. “So without properly fitting shoes — or any shoes at all — they face a lot of problems [with] their feet and their legs and so we're just trying to close that gap.”
Bare Bottoms Baby Necessities
Windsor Lifeline Outreach (WLO), a food bank based out of Windsor Christian Fellowship church is collecting baby items all month long.
“Food insecurity is also baby insecurity and these are our tiniest community members. So it's really important to support the families,” said Jackie Putterman with WLO.
Putterman said they don’t get items like diapers, wipes or formula donated very often but their clients do frequently need them.
All month, you can donate baby items at four community centres: WFCU Centre, the downtown aquatic centre, the Gino Marcus Centre and Capri Pizzeria Centre.
Putterman said any size diaper is greatly appreciated but sizes four to six are most often requested. Even if you have an opened bag of diapers, WLO will gladly take the donation.
All they ask is donors check to ensure any formula donations have not expired.
“If you wouldn’t give it to your baby, we don’t want it,” Putterman said.
She told CTV News Windsor its “distressing” for parents who have to leave a diaper on for longer than necessary because they are running out and can’t afford to buy more.
“We just thought, ‘Well, we have to do something.’ We can certainly try,” said Putterman.
Soup Shack in Windsor, Ont. is putting on a 'If the Shoe Fits' fundraiser in May 2024. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
Helicopter carrying Iran's president suffers a 'hard landing,' state TV says without further details
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a 'hard landing' on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
Robbers made off with 'several million euros' of jewels in armed heist at Harry Winston store in Paris
Armed robbers who used a motorbike as a battering ram made off with 'several million euros' worth of valuables in a heist of the luxury Paris boutique of self-declared 'Jeweler to the Stars' Harry Winston, the French prosecutor’s office overseeing the police probe said.
The secret Italian lakes that most tourists don't know about
Italy has dozens of secret smaller lakes that boast superb scenery, unknown to mass tourism, where locals get together on day trips and enjoy picnics.
What we've learned so far in the Trump hush money trial and what to watch for as it wraps up
Testimony in the hush money trial of Donald Trump is set to conclude in the coming days, putting the landmark case on track for jury deliberations that will determine whether it ends in a mistrial, an acquittal — or the first-ever felony conviction of a former American president.
Woman killed in Montreal's Saint-Michel district: ex-husband arrested
Less than 24 hours after Montreal's 12th homicide investigation began, Montreal police confirmed that a 55-year-old woman's death in St. Michel is the island's 13th homicide.
Serious boat crash kills 3, injures 5 on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake: OPP
Three people were killed and five others were injured Saturday night following a boat crash on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
Ottawa driver who appeared to be racing another vehicle on Highway 416 facing charges
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says an Ottawa driver is facing charges after being caught going 187 km/h on Highway 416.