St. Joseph Conference - Bridgewater, N.S.
In 2021, our Saint Joseph Conference in Bridgewater experienced an increase of 44% more calls for assistance, helping 889 members of our community, 225 of whom were children.
We assisted the vulnerable of Lunenburg County who have been adversely affected by hard times and the additional stress of the on-going Covid 19 pandemic.
SSVP volunteers were ready to make a difference in the lives of our neighbours in this crisis.
We responded to 504 calls for assistance.
889 individuals were assisted, 225 of whom were children.
We were able to provide assistance to neighbours in immediate need, even during the Lockdown.
Over 2,288 volunteer hours were logged responding to calls.
Our Neighbours-in-Need program has been an effective part of the community safety net during the pandemic. It has been a time of stress and anxiety for all our callers. Jobs were cut, hours of work reduced, children out of school, forcing families who had managed well before to ask for help. SSVP helped to pay for basic immediate needs, giving them a reprieve from financial stress and impacting the well-being of the whole family.
Unfortunately, we still have members of our community that are homeless. They live in their cars, in the woods and under the bridge. There were no places to house them because of the lack of affordable housing and shelters.
Thank you to the SSVP volunteers and all who have supported SSVP to make the delivery of the Helping Neighbours-in-Need program possible.