How Your Support Helps

Your financial support of YSM impacts hundreds of lives in a positive way each year. Many are able to get away from life on the street, and begin building the bright future that once seemed out of reach. With help from friends like you:

• Over 140,000 meals are served annually
• 225 youth visit our Community Centre every week
• 5,000+ people are served by Christmas meals, special activities and our food and toy market
• More than 500 children and adults enjoy a camping experience every summer
• Our food bank provided groceries for 35,000 people in 2009
• 60 children attend the Saturday Breakfast Club
• 600 children are enrolled in free computer classes each year
• 1,000 youth developed job action plans, found jobs or participated in job training programs last year at Evergreen Centre
• Evergreen Health Centre annually provides free health services worth $1 million to street-involved youth and their children
• 30 students in financial need receive awards for post-secondary education annually

The Student Awards Program

In 2005, a YSM supporter donated $1 million to set up an educational endowment fund, saying, “Few investments are more worthwhile than education.”

Since then, the Student Awards Program (formerly called Scholarship) has been funded primarily by YSM’s annual Bright Lights event.

The fund helps provide a post-secondary education for young people who attend YSM programs. Every year, up to 30 students in financial need benefit from our Student Awards Program as they pursue university and college courses in a wide variety of disciplines. Students are matched with adult volunteer mentors for guidance and support as they pursue their studies.

“My future is not only important to me but to the whole community around me who watch and wait to see what becomes of me and how their support has affected me. I wanted to thank you for giving me a second chance and realizing I am truly a person who can succeed.”