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SB NEWS ‘MAJORITY OF GROUPS REPORTING REVENUE LOSS g 8 & S g g Fi z i $ 2 g z 3 = Continued from page 1 munity Development Hal- Ed i = non- vprofits j in Halton Hills 2 and across ‘the ° region. 2° Clos de- £ clines and 2 a loss ‘of V volun, @ teers are just some of the F issues plaguing the non- profit sector H's report sourced its Gata from { the Ontario Non- profit Sector One Year Lat- er. Roughly 3,000 organiza- tions responded t ‘o the sur- vey, and eight per cent of them were from Halton. Especially troubling is the fact that many of these of their community. “We did have an officein Burlington. We got rid of chair of the Halton Down Syndrome Association (HDSA), which provides a wide tangs of services to who have inomber Mth Down syn- ‘The HDSA also had to cancel a major fundraiser due to COVID-19 — a golf tournament —and pivoted online for its Walk for Down syndrome event, as well as some ofits services. Theresa Brereton photo Kate Holmes is executive director of the Women's Centre of Halton, one of many non-profit groups struggling these days due to COVID-19. Admitted Edwards, "Sometimes, the virtual platform doesn't work for people." Socialization is a huge art of Down therapy. Edwards many patients, including "If this gap (solvency versus demand) can't be made up by donors, fundraising, going to private foundations and other non-government funders, how will the sector continue to survive?" her own son Oliver, ave lost out on that oWvhen they went to a virtual platform at school and he had to stay home, he talking completely," she athe Women's Centre of Halton (WCH) has also suf- fered from the new normal created by the pandemic. "We were very grateful to have some COVID relief WI per cent of Hal- ton's non-profits reported revenue losses, and one in three reported a decline of greater than 50 per cent, according to the CDH's re- port. This happened in an en- vironment where half ofall Halton non-profits report- ed an increase in demand during the pandemi« ie same report : states that "only a minority of non-profits were support- - ONN spokesperson Sarah Matsushita ed by government emer- gency relief measures.” Only 35 per cent of Hal- ton non-] n profit {00k advan- tage anadi gency Ware Sapa, Nand 15 per cent asked for cash from the Canada Emergen- cy Business Account. Aro 5 per cent of those ne ant ions di not receive provincial sup- port, which the report de- scribes as ‘astonishing’. "The non-profits sector is facing a financial crunch like never before," Onn spokesperson Sarai sushita said. “And rt hs gap (solvency versus de- mand) can't be made up by donors, fundraising, going te 0 private foundations and non- Sovernment Pander, how will the tor continue to survive?” Despite recent strug- gles, there's optimism for the future — with plans un- derway for less restrictive ‘imes. Zhu hopes to rekindle the HHCC's relationships with packers and private don Holmes said the WCH will introduce fall pro- ene ing such as "having a mechanic talk about how to put windshield washer fluid in their car. What an oil change may cost." Pro- grams like these and many others, according to Holmes, are important be- cause it lets women who e from a_ controll environment know "they can make decisions and do 5 “wwe ‘ve been able to run some suc- cessful programing virtu- ally that we might not go back to in person with. Like cooking shows and those kinds of things.” STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Non-profit organi- zations have been hit espe- cially hard by the pandem- ic. We spoke with represen- ber of tatives from a number 9j local groups to see how they've been affected. Light Fodues, Cental Ar Condtiones Softener, Gas Fireplace, Rough In For Wet Bar, Window Coverings. Call Tockay To 800k A Private Viewing! 647- 402: 3066 SAAN Sete 8357 Fifth Line, Georgetown Country Living On 1/2 Acre 2 Km Today To 800k A Private Viewing!