Meeting Demand with Crucial Supplies

Engage and Change is a Toronto-based nonprofit that assembles kits that help street-involved or housing-insecure people survive extreme temperatures. In the winter, they compile and distribute sleeping bags, hats, gloves, scarves, snacks, and more; in the summer, the kits include water bottles, sunscreen, first-aid supplies, and hygiene items. The organization, founded by Jody Steinhauer, enables people and companies to help pay for and put together these kits, which are then distributed to the people who need them through a network of other charities.

Perimeter admires Steinhauer’s program and has worked to extend its efforts to the Waterloo region. Our financial contribution goes toward creating kits for great local organizations like The Working Centre, Sanguen Health Services, OneROOF Youth Services, and the COMPASS Refugee Center. And twice each year our team travels to Toronto, packs hundreds of kits, and brings them back to the region, distributing them directly to these partners. We know these groups have the expertise to get these crucial items into the right hands, and we’re proud to support them and enable our region to benefit from the great work Engage and Change is doing in Toronto.