Folks, here we are in our 13th year. We started slowly but in December, we passed the $1,000,000 mark in awards given out to students in need. Woo-hoo! I am grateful that donors have placed their trust in us to deliver help to so many students in need. The need will never go away. I doubt that it will ever decrease. We are probably only getting the tip of the iceberg but, thanks to the vigilance and determination of the school Principals and Guidance Counselors, I know that we are helping those most in need.
If we slowly increase awareness of the Help Our Students Program in the Ottawa community, our finances should stabilize and we can better plan our future. This year and last, we provided three awards to every Ottawa youth high school. In September, we increased the award to $150 per month. We’ve all read about the effects of rising inflation, especially on food and other critical items. We felt that the previous $110 per month award needed to be increased.
We are currently supporting over 200 students. This includes five students in the Upper Canada region thanks to a renewed donation from MacEwen Petroleum.
All of that means that we need $283,500 (63 schools x 3 students x $1,500) to meet our basic commitment.
We’ve been very fortunate recently in getting greater awareness through some media exposure. Take a look at them at the following links:
1. The Ottawa Business Journal Giving Guide, with profiles of many of Ottawa’s charities. You can see our two-page ad here and a beautiful article written by Jeff Todd here. There’s a photo of a recent HOST graduate of the Urban Aboriginal Alternate High School; Christine is the first person in her family to graduate high school.
2. Our annual Christmas ad in the Ottawa Citizen here;
3. A really nice story by Fred Sherwin in the Orleans Star here.
Our Board of Directors will meet in May to decide on the number and amount of awards that we will provide in the 2023-24 school year. That decision is totally dependent on our current and projected financial situation.
I ask you who are reading this report: if you are not a regular donor to HOST, please consider a modest monthly donation. It’s easy to set it up via our web site link that brings you to
CanadaHelps, a charitable organization that provides donor services to thousands of Canadian charities at a modest fee. You can even donate securities through their site. Simply go to our web site at www.HelpOurStudentsProgram.com. You can also make a one-time donation.
Remember, 100% of your donation will go directly to support a hard-working student living in difficult financial circumstances to help them graduate high school. The volunteer Board of Directors continues to pay all administrative costs.
You can also help us by identifying potential corporate sponsors. Just let us know who to contact and we will do the legwork and prepare an application.
I hope that you will join with us to help those in need in our community.
I wish you good health and happiness for 2023.
Richard Lussier
President and Co-Founder