Basic needs

Accessing basic needs like food and shelter can be a struggle for many people living in our community. Often, the ongoing challenges to meet even the most basic necessities of life means making impossible trade-offs—like buying food or paying rent. This continuous struggle to make ends meet on a day-by-day basis is a source of tremendous stress and anxiety—often making it difficult for people to focus on anything else and leaving them in a perpetual cycle of poverty.

United Way invests in programs and services that ensure individuals and families have access to basic needs, and allow them to focus on building their strengths and move towards greater self-sufficiency. By removing the strain of finding shelter or food, we give people a chance to focus their efforts on securing employment, and stabilizing their finances. Providing them with supports to meet their basic needs enables these individuals and families to move beyond day-to-day survival, and offers them an opportunity to spend more time and energy engaging in their community, leading to more positive life outcomes.