WRYM's June 2021 Netletter

Invest in Citizenship 2021
By Investing in Citizenship Together, We Become a Productive Community

By Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.), Founder - The Windsor Residence for Young Men

​June is Canadian Citizenship Month at The Windsor Residence for Young Men.  

Our program was founded and remains designed to produce productive citizens from impressionable homeless young men who might otherwise become broken men draining on our community resources,  involved in crime, addictions, violence (domestic, chauvinistic and otherwise), dependent on welfare to exist. ​We do this by modelling a healthy family, sometimes the only family our guys have ever known, with respect for all, including one’s self.

Homeless male youth 15-25 years of age are 8 times more likely to die “on the street” than their peers; and, males have a suicide rate 3 times higher than females. While males of the same age are the most violent demographic in any society, they are also the largest group to present with the most serious injuries and wounds at Ontario’s emergency wards. As well, they silently suffer about 40% of the sexual assaults within that age range. They, too, have been the victims of domestic assault; but, hopefully we can model a functional family to learn from and prevent repetition. Additionally, during this pandemic, they can only “shelter in place” if they have a safe place to shelter in!

We invest your donations in our guys’ future; but, they have to apply for admission and establish that they want to change their plight. WRYM is not a shelter to attend for a bed and a meal; rather, its program is similar to a scholarship program sponsoring those who want to learn basic life skills while staying in school or employment if not seeking to do so. In other words, our guys have to give to get – that’s citizenship.

​Unfortunately, our government seems to only sponsor shelter nights or room & board, not programming providing the life skills to transition youth off the street. Consequently, our community also has to give to get productive citizens from homeless youth whose prospects only get worse the longer they are on the street.

As a result, some of our supporters have pooled pledges to match your donations during the month of June, ending on Canada Day. At present, the donation match “pool” is up to $3,000 “deep”. If you wish to participate with a donation, mark it “citizenship”. If you wish to encourage others with a significant donation, it should be marked “ citizenship match”.

You may click on the red donation square below or mail your cheques to the residence at 1505 Langlois Avenue
Windsor, Ontario, Canada N8X 4M3

Some of our supporters have pooled pledges to match your donations during our Invest in Citizenship 2021 Campaign, which ends on Canada Day, July 1.

You could turn $1 into $20,000 this June!
The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is back! This June, every $1* donated to any charity on CanadaHelps (our secure funds transfer provider) is an automatic chance to WIN $20,000 for your favourite charity.

Thank you for looking kindly upon these young men; because, they have tremendous potential. Even if they are “hard to hug” sometimes, they deserve a decent chance in life.

If you have a moment, why not watch our Invest in Citizenship video: