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The Nelson Community Services Centre (NCSC)is a multi-service, multi-funded non-profit agency. The NCSC has been working in their community since 1972.

How your Donation is used Imagine not having a home of your own to return to each night. Imagine spending over 60% of your monthly income on rent and having to choose between that or food. Imagine living on a disability pension and having critical health supports, such as orthotics, cut from your benefits. Or imagine being a person with a disability willing and able to work and only finding doors close rather than open. These situations are real and exist right here in our community. You have probably heard about them, read about them in the newspaper, or indeed, you know someone who is living them. If you are like me, you care deeply about the impact of these conditions on people’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and ultimately on the health of the community. With your help, we can work to bring about change — change that will renew people’s hope and faith in themselves and in their community. Imagine what we can do together!

The Nelson Women's Centre has a drop-in program that has been providing support for women and children of the area for the past 40 years. Women can receive free food, toiletries, clothing, counseling, referrals and a friendly place to be. In addition, the Centre provides a month-long free volunteer skills development training, a youth project focusing on gender-based issues, an intergenerational textile skills project, a feminist library, and many events in the community.

The Nelson Food Cupboard is a barrier-free food bank; we allow people to come to our food bank as often as they need and don’t ask them to justify why they need our services. We respect their rights to privacy and dignity and aim to create a welcoming and safe atmosphere for all. We serve over 1,000 people every month and aim to meet their diverse family and dietary needs with healthy foods. Our Food Cupboard customers come from Nelson and the surrounding towns and rural areas. One quarter are children. Many of our customers struggle to make ends meet on social assistance, some work for low wages and support families, and others are in transitional periods of their lives. Additionally, we operate Harvest Rescue, a program that rescues unwanted fresh food from local farmers and gardeners and redistributes it at our food bank and other social service agencies in Nelson. We also give out bountiful Holiday Hampers to over 160 families and individuals at Christmastime.

Nelson House is a non-profit shelter, established in 1992 following three years of planning and effort by a large number of women in the city of Nepean and across the region. Nelson House provides emergency shelter and social services for women and children who are fleeing abuse in their lives. The Board and staff run a facility known as a first-stage emergency shelter where women and children benefit from transitional housing and programs for up to 10 weeks. The core of Nelson House's service is the Residential Program, which serves on average 150 women and children per year. The 15-bed residence offers a warm home-like setting with accommodation for women with and without children. The Crisis line answers more than 1500 calls annually, responding to the needs of women in crisis by providing support and information on safety planning, access to community services, and advocating for women to find a safe place to stay.