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Community Impact People’s Choice Award

For the first time since the inception of the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Awards, the recipient of the Community Impact People’s Choice Award will be selected by the Chamber Membership, rather than by a panel of independent judges. These organizations were nominated by the community using criteria set out by the Chamber that took into consideration the meaningful impact and measurable change these organizations have made, often with limited resources, through collaboration and relationship building with other organizations and businesses. Deadline is Friday, October 20th.

Please consider carefully, the following nominees and make your single choice accordingly.

Hespeler Village BIA

The Hespeler Village BIA is a proactive and innovative organization that has worked tirelessly in the last decade to transition the village’s “tired, empty, and often shunned” downtown core into a vibrant destination where people (and families) aspire to live, work and play. Lower vacancy rates and increased property values are a true testament to the group’s success. The Hespeler Village BIA has introduced many initiatives to strength its ties with the community, including creating a signage program for its business members that covers the cost of 50% of a professionally designed and installed sign that adheres to predefined standards and criteria. As well, throughout the pandemic the group was the first organization in Cambridge to engage in street closures to assist Hespeler’s struggling restaurant sector. However, as an organization with limited resources it realizes collaboration is key to success which is why it created a partnership with the Hespeler Village Farmers’ Market. By pooling time, resources, and cash to attract dozens of vendors and hundreds of visitors to the Village core every Friday evening throughout the summer, it’s a partnership that has worked well for everyone. That commitment to creating a better community for all of Cambridge has been magnified by the Hespeler Village BIA and its willingness to share best practices with the city’s other two BIAs to ensure everyone succeeds.

Langs Interprofessional Primary Outreach (IPC) Team

Langs is a dynamic and highly respected multi-service organization that utilizes a community development approach to provide a range of health, social and recreational services that remain tailored to the needs of the community. Its Interprofessional Primary Care Teams (IPC) have a mandate to provide flexible, mobile, multidisciplinary health care to individuals who have difficulty accessing health care and who are disconnected from regular primary care services. The IPC model focuses heavily on outreach to vulnerable/complex individuals through partnerships with other local community-based organizations, including ACCKWA, Cambridge Food Bank, Lutherwood, Canadian Mental Health Association, Langs, Stonehenge, Sanguen Health Centre, and the Bridges Shelter, to name just a few. Led by a team of dedicated experts that provide outreach using a flexible, patient-focused approach connecting and building relationships with folks in many non-traditional outreach sites, these partner relationships have been essential to building a strong multifaceted wraparound approach to connecting with those who are the most vulnerable in our community. The IPC outreach work is an area of pride for all Langs’ employees and the work they do validates the organization’s overall mission and vision. Their all-staff presentations inspire their co-workers at Langs to continue advocating for those who are most vulnerable in our area. The IPC team has provided a face and a story to those experiencing homelessness. In the last year the team provided 3,148 service encounters for those who would be considered homeless or precariously housed. Often, they are faced with untreated chronic conditions, including mental health and addictions. By working with Public Health, the IPC team has been able to continue to provide not only COVID vaccination and screening, but treatment for other communicable diseases that can be devastating to this population while at the same time acting as their advocates.

Porchlight Counselling & Addiction Services

Porchlight Counselling & Addiction Services envisions a community where mental health and well-being are prioritized and destigmatized and has realized this can only come to fruition through partnerships and community collaboration. Currently, Porchlight has built solid relationships with more than 15 funding partners, the Counselling Collaborative of Waterloo Region, as well as outreach at local schools and churches. In the last year, the group has focused on cultivating these partnerships at a grassroots level in effort to better meet the needs of the community, playing an important role in the Cambridge and North Dumfries OHT Mental Health and Addictions clinic by having Porchlight counsellors provide individualized, short-term therapy. Porchlight has also worked alongside the Coalition of Muslim Women of KW to develop a peer-led training program that seeks to make therapy more accessible to local Muslim families. The group also continues to advocate for emergency women’s shelter beds in Cambridge and revels in the positive effect its work with the Warner Mennonite Church has on its Recovery Home residents. It’s been a big year for Porchlight, which has managed to cut its waitlist in half and doubled its counselling staff, many of whom come with a diversified range of skillsets. Through its work, which includes the reintroduction of walk-in counselling once pandemic restrictions were lifted, Porchlight has been able to relieve the pressure emergency departments and primary care provides are facing in the community. Porchlight has been a champion when it comes to addressing the increase of intimate partner violence that materialized during COVID-19 by having the City of Cambridge to declare it an epidemic and in 2020 advocated with government officials at all levels about the inequality that exists in local funding for social supports.

Shelter Movers Waterloo Region

Shelter Movers Waterloo Region has made a measurable impact in the community through its commitment to providing free moving and storage services to those pursuing a life free from violence. To date, the organization has conducted more than 350 successful moves – moving more than 60 children and 20 pets to safety so far in 2023. The demand for service continues to increase, and with it community awareness resulting in an influx of volunteers both locally and beyond, which demonstrates the importance of the work of this not-for-profit group. Shelter Movers is committed to building strong relationships with all members of the community. In the last year, it has built local outreach teams that are dedicated to cultivating relationships in the LGBTQIA2S+, Indigenous, recent immigrant, and rural communities in the region. As a result, it has created relationships with many community partners (Tri-Pride, Take Back the Night, Cambridge Bingo & Gaming Centre, and the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market to name a few) in these spaces to raise awareness of its services and offer any help it can. Community outreach has created training opportunities from other organizations to help its volunteers become more informed and confident with regards to harm reduction strategies, de-escalation, bystander intervention, and cultural sensitivity or understanding. Shelter Movers continues to use its community ties with many groups and businesses – such as the Preston Lawn Bowling Club, Kentucky Bourbon & BBQ & City of Waterloo - in a positive way to create a culture of mental health awareness and self-care amongst its own volunteers. These community ties help Shelter Movers reward its volunteers, while creating light-hearted opportunities for them to connect with one another. Organizers feel it is important to hold these events to ensure the volunteers feel cared for, supported, and valued.

Trinity Community Table

Trinity Community Table began by providing a soup and sandwich from a local restaurant in 1992 to help those in need but since has grown into a valuable grassroots organization that now serves 18,800 meals a year to the most vulnerable in our community. A key to its success, besides its more than 100 dedicated volunteers, is its ability to nurture solid relationships with a variety of organizations and companies including the Waterloo Region Food Bank (which now provides its main source of food), Cambridge Food Bank, Piller’s Meats, The Vineyard, Urban Hope and Salvation Army, to name just a few. Besides accepting countless donations from these groups and many others, Trinity Community Table also participates in community outreach and is the first to give back by sharing its leftover food with the Cambridge Shelter, all in the effort to ensure those in need do not go hungry. Located in Trinity Anglican Church (and for a time at neighbouring St. Paul’s Lutheran Church when its kitchen was being upgraded thanks to a generous donation), this organization has continually pivoted to ensure it can meet the needs of its guests. Prior to the pandemic, volunteers served guests with a hot meal inside, with only a few sandwiches and sometimes fruit available for takeout. Now, takeout bags are provided to meet an alarming need as more people seek assistance in these tough economic times. Organizers know that many of these takeout bags are now being picked up for children and seniors, many who are not homeless but do not always have access to a reliable food source. In fact, the demand for Trinity Community Table’s services has risen by nearly 40% since 2022. As well, the organization has also been a beacon of hope for many international students and Kenyan refugees, many of whom were guests at one time but have now returned as volunteers, a clear indication of the impact Trinity Community Table continues to have on the community.