Member of the Better Business Bureau of Western Ontario
New office location: 1362 Lambton Mall Road, Unit 10, Sarnia, ON N7S 5A1
Pleases note, that the United Way of Sarnia-Lambton office is now open. Please practice safe distancing and other saftey protocols while visiting the United Way office. Thank you.
Emergency Community Support Fund - Round 2
United Way of Sarnia-Lambton is now accepting applications for the second round of the Emergency Community Support Fund to help charities and non-profit organizations serve and support vulnerable Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding is part of the $350 million made available by the Government of Canada and administered by United Way Centraide Canada, Community Foundations of Canada and the Canadian Red Cross in communities from coast to coast to coast. United Way of Sarnia-Lambton is proud to support this important investment by the Federal Government and will be allocating $107,396 locally.
From October 5 to October 30, 2020, United Way of Sarnia-Lambton will be accepting applications for funding.
Si vous avez des questions ou souhaitez présenter une demande de financement au Fonds d’urgence pour l’appui communautaire en français, veuillez communiquer avec nous à
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Who can Apply?
United Way of Sarnia-Lambton will fund organizations that provide direct services to vulnerable populations who are impacted by COVID-19.
Your organization is eligible to receive funding if your organization has a charitable number, or is otherwise a qualified donee, and is providing supports and services to meet immediate community needs related to the COVID-19.
This funding is intended to support frontline community service organizations providing services to support vulnerable Canadians, including low-income seniors, women, children and youth, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, refugees, Indigenous peoples, members of racialized communities, and more.
Funds may be used for immediate needs and priorities related to the impact of COVID-19. This includes, but is not limited to, services such as:
• Preparing and delivering meals and/or food hampers
• Supporting individuals in accessing income supports and financial coaching
• Providing home care or personal support for seniors, elders, and persons with disabilities
• Mental health & wellness supports, including crisis counselling and peer support
• Personal safety supports, including for those living in or escaping situations of violence
• Access to safe transport for essential appointment and errands, and
• Others
What Types of Activities could be Funded?
• Community outreach and engagement
• Developing and/or delivering new programs, services or delivery models as a result of
COVID-19
• Sharing information and knowledge
• Engaging and recruiting volunteers
How to Apply
Applications will be accepted starting October 5, 2020. Funding decisions will be made by mid-November.
For questions please contact Pamela Bodkin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling 519-336-5452 Ext. 5.
Interested in Donating appreciated Equities?
More and more of our supporters are donating stocks and other appreciated equities. There are some very attractive tax advantages in donating appreciated eqities to the United Way of Sarnia-Lambton. The stock transfer is easy. Click here to download our form. (Please note; to take advantage of the tax deductions and avoid paying capital gains tax, the stocks must be transfered to the United Way and NOT SOLD). If you have questions, please call Dave at 519 336-5452 at the United Way, or your trusted tax professional.
Please use this form to donate stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. Thank you.
Previously awarded COVID-19 Funding in Sarnia-Lambton:
Emergency Community Support Fund
$300,000 in grants from the Emergency Compassion Support Fund (ECSF) have now been administered by United Way of Sarnia-Lambton bringing the program to a close. Funded by the Government of Canada, the ECSF provided financial support to charities and other qualified donees who had to adapt their frontline services to support vulnerable Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to the Government of Canada, and local donors.
River City Vineyard (2 Grants) - $92,000
$67,000 – Funds will be used to purchase building materials and employ residents to complete renovations to onsite washroom facilities allowing for separate entrances from each wing. Work will include renovating shower rooms to single stalls ensuring proper safe distancing as well as repurposing a third washroom for transgender and accessibility. This project will provide a source of income to residents who have previously worked in the trades and others to learn new skills.
$25,000 – Funds will be used to build ten women’s pods around individual shelter beds. Currently each guest has their own bed, but it does not allow for privacy or social distancing. Current and former Shelter residents will provide the skilled labour. Each pod will include a bed, desk, and a locked storage area. River City Vineyard does not currently have women’s facilities.
YMCA of Southwestern Ontario, YMCA Learning & Career Centre Sarnia - $37,307
Funds will be used to assist newcomer clients who are adult Permanent Residents with learning and speaking English with the use of technology. Learning English is an important step in the settlement process because it helps newcomers obtain better jobs, get involved in their communities, participate in events, and build self confidence.
Rapids Family Health Team - $3,000
Funds will be used to install plexiglass screens in counselling areas allowing for the reinitiating of in-person counselling. Many clients have hearing loss and are not able to hear or read lips through a mask.
Lambton Elderly Outreach (3 Grants) - $17,200
$3,500 will be directed to the purchase of canvas bags for home care employees to transport PPE and infection control supplies.
$1,700 will be used for the purchase of 250 insulated grocery bags to deliver meals to recently acquired clients and eliminating the need to share bags among clients.
$12,000 will be used to install plexiglass barriers, construct a wall and a secure door in LEO’s reception area.
YMCA of Southwestern Ontario, YMCA Learning & Career Centre Sarnia (2 Grants) - $46,426
$18,948 will be used to build and distribute activity kits to families of children with autism. The YMCA Autism Summer Camp was cancelled due to COVID-19. YMCA staff will build and distribute kits on a bi-weekly basis to those in need. The kits will include crafts, activities, and sensory items.
$27,478 will be used to provide engaging summer camp activity kids to low-income children and youth in their YMCA Resource House program. The kits will focus on healthy learning and play that will promote creativity and healthy lifestyle. These kits will also be engaging for all ages without parental supervision.
Community Concerns for the Medically Fragile, CCMF Sarnia - $3,000
Funds will be used for massage therapy for residents at Standing Oaks, a specialized group home. Most residents are in wheelchairs for lengthy periods of time which can result in limbs that are stiff and hard to move. The massage therapy with a registered RMT will assist with circulation and aide in each resident. The RMT will also monitor each resident’s mobility.
Family Counselling Centre - $38,300
Funds will be used to begin a rigorous volunteer recruitment campaign for the Distress Line and Tel-Check service. Due to the pandemic and requirement for physical distancing, the training programs will need to adapt to a virtual training delivery platform. Funds will also be used to purchase equipment for volunteers. This will allow volunteers to safely help those who may be in distress or crisis.
Habitat for Humanity - $5,000
Funds will be used through a partnership with Rotary Club for Habitat for Humanity. Funds will go directly to Habitat to be used for affordable and accessible housing builds.
Kidney Foundation of Canada, Sarnia-Lambton Chapter - $5,000
Funds will be used to provide last resort financial assistance, funds for transportation to and from dialysis treatment and doctors appointments, medication, food, blood pressure cuffs etc.
Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario - $15,000
Funds will be used to provide direct client support in Sarnia-Lambton. Direct support includes virtual and community outreach, virtual therapy, education webinars and online support groups for those living with Parkinson’s Disease.
Le centre communautaire francophone de Sarnia - $9,000
The centre will prepare and deliver home-made nutritional hot meals for seniors and vulnerable people including low/no income families during COVID-19. Services are offered to francophone seniors, but not limited to Francophones. Requests will be made through an application process. The program will offer a nutritious meal followed up with a telephone wellness check. The funding will allow 150 meals to be served weekly in Sarnia, Bright’s Grove and Corunna areas.
Sexual Assault Survivors Centre - $5,000
There is a concern within this vulnerable sector as clients are faced with isolation and financial hardships. The ECSF grant will assist approximately 50-60 clients in urban and rural Lambton with safe transportation to appointments, accessing food banks and groceries, cleaning supplies, and gift cards as needed.
VON - $11,400
Funds will be used to provide therapeutic tools and communications devices for volunteers and clients in the Volunteer Visiting program and for clients and Caregivers in the Adult Day Program. Funds will also assist the SMART instructors with their exercise and fall prevention classes. These tools will allow for continued support and programming during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Salvation Army - $20,000
Funds will be used to cover the cost of a Mobile Community Response Unit. This unit will be able to be used in our current crisis (COVID-19) and any on going situations.
The mobile unit will allow Salvation Army to provide hot and cold food to anyone in need. At this time they are focusing on the homeless and hard to house during the pandemic. They will be equipped to serve 100 individuals on each trip and at this time plan to go out at least weekly or more if needed. The unit is completely mobile so can serve both urban and rural communities as needed.
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United Way of Sarnia-Lambton Issues Seniors Funding
Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program Grants
United Way of Sarnia-Lambton has issued grants to six agencies in Lambton County on behalf of United Way Centraide Canada and funded by the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors Program. These six non-profit community service organizations met all requirements for funding which included meeting the immediate and urgent needs of seniors in Sarnia and throughout Lambton County; Focus upon vulnerable seniors (55+) impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic including but not limited to: low income individuals; seniors who are members of a minority group; and/or those living in rural settings; as well as caregivers.
Family Counselling Centre – $16,000
Funds will be used to hire one full time position to support with increased scheduling and Tel-Check calls as well as promotional materials for isolated seniors.
Lambton Mental Wellness Centre – $1,261
Funds will be used to purchase iPads to lend to their senior members (55+) to connect them with their virtual support groups. The iPads will allow the Wellness Centre to provide support to 3 urban and 1 rural member during the pandemic social isolation duration.
North Lambton Community Health Centre – $15,000
Funds will be used to provide the essential supports to their most vulnerable clients including isolated (rural) seniors and seniors living with mental health and addictions. It will address access to immediate basic needs such as food, hygiene products and increase need for cleaning products.
St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank & Help Centre – $9,886
Funds will be used to assist with rent and utilities, cleaning supplies and transportation for seniors travelling to appointments outside the city of Sarnia.
United Way of Sarnia-Lambton Compassion Fund Investments to date
Lambton Elderly Outreach - $5,000
LEO provides transportation services to seniors and adults with disabilities. Services include a non-urgent stretcher van, Meals on Wheels delivery, Personal Support Services and Crisis Intervention services (for more serious issues).
Other area providers have decreased their services. Funds will assist LEO to address the increased need and to continue to provide this vital service during this crisis.
St. Clair Child and Youth- $5,000
St. Clair and Youth provides a crisis program for youth who have been referred by Bluewater Health for priority treatment. During COVID-19, this program has moved from in person sessions to telephone. Funds will allow the program to move to a virtual program and to upgrade computer security. This will allow for a greater opportunity for a clinical connection and client engagement.
Rebound and The Hub (2 Programs) - $5000
Program #1 – The HUB will use funds to provide help and supports for youth who may be facing homelessness. The HUB has seen an increase in the past two weeks, many who are accessing The Hub for the first time.
Program #2 – Funds will be used to cover the costs of moving to an online platform for the Rebound spring programming that supports youth ages 8 to 17. The program covers topics such as substance use prevention, developing resistance and coping skills, and social skills development.
Women’s Interval Home of Sarnia-Lambton - $5000
The pandemic team at the Women’s Interval Home is creating more space to ensure social and physical distancing for their clients. Funds will be used to adapt the residence so that women and their children can remain within the shelter while observing safety protocols.
Family Counselling Centre - $5000
The FCC Distress Line/Tel-Check line has seen an increased number of referrals during the pandemic. Funds will enable FCC to hire additional staff to handle the additional distress line call volume and new clients on the Tel-Check program.
Boys and Girls Club - $5000
The club is closed for programming but remotely operates its backpack program to assist with personal care and food items on a requested basis. Funds will allow the program to expand to include rent, unpaid bills, and medical expenses. A means test is included in the application process.
Salvation Army - $5000
There has been an influx of clients accessing the Salvation Army Food Bank. They are currently assisting on average 15-25 households per day. Funds will be used to purchase food and hygiene products.
CNIB - $4000
Many individuals rely on a sighted person for grocery shopping and are facing ridicule for needing physical support and for the challenge of maintaining a six-foot distance. Delivery services are overwhelmed and cannot take on new customers. Many individuals live on low incomes due to under/unemployment and cannot afford price increases or to stock up on essentials.
The volunteers provide one-on-one assistance to people with sight loss for almost any daily activity i.e. reading mail, running errands. Essentially, volunteers serve as the person’s eyes for a couple hours each week, which empowers the individual with sight loss to continue to live independently and fulfill their most basic needs. Most often, Virtual Vision Mate beneficiaries are older adults who need additional care giving. Their friends and family may be self-isolating, limited in the assistance they can provide, or simply live too far away to provide weekly or daily care giving. In Sarnia alone, there are an estimated 4,000 people living with sight loss.
St. Vincent De Paul Food Bank & Help Centre - $5000
St. Vincent De Paul helps those going through difficult times with food and monetary assistance fore rent, utilities, medical, dental and more as funds allow. They typically help on average 7,000 people per year.
During the COVID-19 pandemic this funding will help keep their food bank stocked enough to stay open and assist with food for those in need during this difficult time.
North Lambton Community Health Centre - $5000
North Lambton Community Health Centre provides primary healthcare, health promotion and community development services to Lambton County. They offer many health and wellness programs and services with a focus on people who face challenges to access care. Their priority population includes seniors, First Nations people, mentally ill, low income, farming families, youth at risk, and families with young children.
They are experiencing a high volume of need around food insecurity, cleaning supplies and transportation. Opening Doors clients (currently a United Way funded program) and seniors especially are experiencing difficulty navigating the community with mental illness and vulnerable health. This request is to provide food, personal and cleaning supplies and transportation costs for these vulnerable people.
The Inn of the Good Shepherd - $5000
The Inn is providing takeout food hampers, meals and children’s snack packs during the COVID crisis. They are seeing numbers slightly increased and expect that to increase more due to widespread lay offs, especially after people receive their last pay cheque. With the pandemic came the cancellation or closure of schools, events, churches and businesses that are all regular contributors of food donations for the food bank and soup kitchen.
This grant will help to purchase food to replace that, which would have been raised in the community through workplaces and events.
Brain Injury Association of Sarnia-Lambton - $5000
The Brain Injury Association of Sarnia Lambton provides support to family members and survivors of brain injury and concussion. Their programs work to mobilize clients from concerns of social isolation due to frequent risk of depression, anxiety and loneliness after an accident. Their social leisure activities, support groups, and peer mentor supports are now needed more than ever to prevent serious mental health breakdown.
They have close to 200 members locally that require the support of those trained in brain injury. Their budget covers only 5-8 hours per week. This emergency funding will allow them to stay directly in contact with their members with regular phone/video calls, offer counselling support as needed, do drop off for supplies, groceries as needed, arrange and pay for services (taxis) to get clients to medical appointments as needed.
St. Clair Child & Youth - $5000
St. Clair Child & Youth remains committed to supporting the mental health needs of infants, children, youth, and families in our community. Although their doors are closed to face-to-face services they have developed and launched a new telephone counselling and consultation service to support existing clients as well as new clients seeking help from the community.
They are seeking support to help provide virtually crisis counselling to support the acute mental health needs to high-risk youth affected by COVID-19. They will provide a series of online webinars through Zoom targeting specific vulnerable populations and demographics. These workshops will focus on skill development, education, and emotional regulation. Topics will include anxiety, coping, self-regulation, resiliency, trauma, and attachment. Separate workshops will be available for parents, children, and youth. They will also host a weekly or bi-weekly live mental health podcast for Sarnia-Lambton which will have guest speakers sharing information, clarifying misconceptions, and providing direction on where to go in our community for help.
Huron House Boys Home - $5000
Huron House Boys Home works to develop and implement programs to enable their residents (boys aged 12-18) to make positive changes in their lives. They provide therapeutic counselling, support, guidance and structure for youth in their care.
In addition to their roles managing the regular programming, the staff are now having to facilitate the online learning that their residents are participating in. This means more staff working during the day and their expenses have increased, both in terms of staff salaries as well as the food and utilities from having the boys and additional staff present all the time. It has also been a challenge to get access to the needed technology for the boys to be able to run the programs they need to participate in their schooling.
North Lambton Community Health Centre - $5000
The Harm Reduction & Hepatitis C Care Team at North Lambton Community Health Centre continues to provide modified services during COVID-19. They serve vulnerable clients who traditionally experience health and social inequities. This includes people who are homeless or under-housed, street involved youth, indigenous peoples, and people affected by substance use. They provide low-barrier access to harm reduction teaching and supplies with the goal to reduce the transmission of blood-born illnesses such as hepatitis C and HIV, as well as to reduce the risk of opioid overdose.
This funding will help clients who need transportation to Sarnia for services such as Opioid Substitution Therapy and laboratory services; provide home delivery of harm reduction supplies, non-perishable food, hygiene products and other essentials, and provide phone cards to continue to conduct all appointments over the phone.
YMCAs of Southwestern Ontario - $5000
During regular programming 80-100 youth (ages 4-12) receive two meals and healthy nutrition breaks (Mon-Fri) while participating in the YMCA Resource Houses Program. These funds will go towards supporting those program families who are in need during these unique times. This funding will assist youth and their families living on or under the poverty line and/or experiencing hunger, lack of supports and community engagement while community programs are on hold and unavailable.
River City Vineyard - $5000
River City Vineyard normally provides a shower program, food bank, free community store, meals, drop in centre, and homeless shelter. A few of these programs have had to be put on hold until the COFID-19 restrictions are lifted. However, they still operate their food bank and homeless shelter.
Due to the pandemic their supplies are funning low as donations are down and the need is up. This funding would also assist them in continuing to run their homeless shelter, as again donations are down but supplies still need to be purchased to operate, including hand sanitizers and additional cleaning supplies to ensure the shelter remains immaculate and the guests remain safe. They are requesting emergency.
Salvation Army - $5000, a second grant
The Salvation Army has seen a spike in need for personal care and hygiene supplies and other cleaning needs. The Salvation Army has also found itself in need of additional Food items. These funds will be used to purchase such items for their clientele including those products primarily in need of by seniors.
Mid Valley Seniors Apartments - $5000
Mid Valley Seniors Apartments is a 29 unit seniors building in Petrolia that is a registered charity run by a volunteer Board of Directors. Their average age of tenants is 75. Funding will be used to purchase extra cleaner and time to sanitize; additional disinfectant/hand cleaner and gloves; and sanitation wash stations.
Alzheimer Society of Sarnia-Lambton - $5000
The Alzheimer Society provides a range of programs and services for people living with dementia and their care partners, provides public education and promotes research into the cause and cure of Alzheimer’s disease. Programs and services for clients include system navigation, care planning, education, social and recreational activities, support and counselling, in-home respite and day programming.
Due to the closure of Adult Day Programs, social recreational programs, and reduced in-person services, people living with dementia and their care partners are now at home together 24/7. Care partners are in need of relief from providing care, and people living with dementia are in need of meaningful activities to help them pass the time. Caregiver burnout is a real threat during the best of times for our clients but now that they are not able to access their usual community supports, the threat is amplified.
Alzheimers would like to develop Activity Kits which will include a variety of activities that can be done by the person living with dementia and can be used at any time during the day or night to provide caregiver relief. The Kits will be geared to the specific client, taking into account their likes and interests. They will also increase contact with their clients whose in-home respite services have been suspended. These clients will receive a regular phone call check-in with their usual respite worker.
