Commentary, Opinion

Monthly Message: My Sister’s Place, who we are and what we do

June 26, 2025   ·   0 Comments

Our mission is that we are dedicated to providing a safe environment for women and their dependents while empowering women to live free from violence and oppression.

We are a not-for-profit organization that provides residential and outreach services and have served the communities of South Simcoe County since 1987.  

We are a registered charity under the name “People In Transition (Alliston) Inc.” — however, we are best known as My Sister’s Place.

At My Sister’s Place we provide three stages of housing, the shelter, second stage housing and third stage housing.

The shelter is a woman’s first stop, it is comprised of a shared kitchen and common space with women having their own bedroom. We have 12 beds in shelter and in 2024 we served 77 women and children.

Second Stage Housing provides affordable, one-bedroom apartments for a period of six months for women and their child(ren).  This time period may be extended up to 364 days. The program offers a safe environment with outreach and support staff available by appointment.  

Women are encouraged to connect with the many community agencies and organizations that can assist with employment, educational upgrading, childcare, and securing long-term affordable housing. Since it was built in 2011 we have supported 95 women, 71 children and 3 service animals.

Third Stage Housing offers women and their child(ren) continued support. Since opening in 2014 we have supported five women and eight children in our long-term affordable housing.

Our crisis line is manned by caring professional employees trained in women and children’s services that like our shelter can be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. In 2024 we received 1,249 calls on the crisis line.

In 2024 we also served 129 women through our outreach teams.

Our in-shelter services include:

• Crisis counselling for women and children 
• Structured programs for children and parenting support 
• Safety planning 
• In – house support groups for women and children 
• Housing advocacy and assistance 
• Legal advocacy and support 
• Referrals to other community agencies 
• Transitional support to assist women in re-establishing violence-free lives in the community including Second & Third Stage Housing.

Our outreach services include:

• Crisis support  
• Short-term individual counselling
• Community support groups  
• Safety Planning
• Legal advocacy and support 
• Housing advocacy, assistance, and follow-up support  
• Second Stage Housing 
• Community referrals and resources  
• Community presentations (as requested) on topics such as violence, healthy dating relationships, self-esteem, etc.

Our largest funder is the Ministry of Children, Community & Social Services (MCCSS) with 80 per cent of our budget.  

This money is used for the running of the shelter and all of the services offered therein (such as utilities, building maintenance, food, etc.), transportation, staff salaries, upkeep of the office and administration.  

All other funding is grant/fundraised based and goes to filling in the funding gaps – about 20 per cent of our basic budget (approxamitely $300,000 annually).

These expenses range from utility bills, food for three meals a day for those in shelter, snack items, upkeep of the shelter and the two other tiers of housing, furniture for all three tiers of housing, cleaning supplies, toiletries, housing supplies (towels, sheets, dishes, small kitchen appliances, cutlery, pots, pans etc.), schools supplies for children in shelter, taxi or gas money for a client to get to work or for their child to get to school or appointments and the list goes on. 

To help ease the burden of these costs we have started a program called Under One Roof.  With this program we are working to secure funding to help with the day to day running of the shelter, outreach services and programming when expenses exceed our government funding. To cover the unexpected expenses that come up and ensure that we can always deliver the best service possible.  

Our Moving Forward Program helps women and children who have utilized our services in the last 2 years get off to a good start in an independent life. Our aim is that this program will be funded by corporate community funds and grants and our goal is to create a successful sustainable program that helps as many families as possible on this journey. Expenses for this program may vary by situation but we are dedicated to serving as many women as possible with the support they need to Move Forward. 

We work every day to create a support system in our community and to provide the best programming, services, facilities and care we can give to our women and their children. By supporting My Sister’s Place, you are helping us move towards a stronger community, where women and their children can live free from oppression and abuse and look forward to a brighter future. 

For more information log onto www.mysistersplace.ca

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