SANCTUARY MINISTRIES OF TORONTO
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Mission Statement
At Sanctuary, we describe ourselves as a healthy, welcoming community in which people who are poor and excluded are particularly valued.
About This Cause
For nearly 30 years, Sanctuary has been a refuge for people who are homeless and living in poverty in Toronto. Sanctuary’s model is relationship-based. We offer people the opportunity to develop genuine, supportive friendships and become engaged in our community. The relationships that people build at Sanctuary are deeply empowering and, in our experience, are often the deciding factor that enables people to make positive changes in their lives, from finding housing to overcoming addictions. Approximately 800 to 1,000 individuals walk through our doors in a year, and we maintain close relationships and regular contact with around 200 people at any given time. Our community is diverse, including many Indigenous, racialized, and LGBTQ people. Approximately half of our community members “sleep rough,” meaning that they primarily or exclusively sleep outside, and others are precariously housed, couch-surf, or live in low-income housing. Most people in our community have chronic physical or mental illnesses, disabilities, or addictions. As a grassroots organization with deep ties to the community, we have been able to develop programs and activities that are highly responsive to the needs of the people who call Sanctuary home. Some of our programs include: a clinic staffed by two registered nurses, a nurse practitioner, and visiting doctors that offers accessible, non-judgmental healthcare; two weekly meal drop-ins where we serve hearty meals to over 300 people and offer access to showers, toiletries, clothing, referrals to shelters, and a chance to build supportive friendships; therapeutic arts programming led by our community arts facilitators and arts therapist; and weekly street outreach to offer water, snacks, socks, survival supplies, and an invitation to join us at drop-ins and special events.