Helper Bees

Update from Helper Bees Coordinator:

I am writing to inform you that
moving forward, community outreach will be done solely by Your Downtown Guelph Friends. The meal programming for the Helper Bees Program is coming to an end. Based on our current finances, the meal program will wrap up at the end of June.

The element of the Helper Bees that will remain as an outreach project of the church will be the Living Better on Less Program. Our recent funding supports this outreach program and will allow us to create modules for a Living Better on Less for Seniors program and Living Better on Less for Youth program.

While it is unfortunate that the meal program and the other associated outreach is coming to an end, there is much to celebrate based on our work in the community. We served over 25,000 meals over the past 3 years and worked with over 200 different volunteers on the program. The program was completely self-funded based on grants and donations from the community. We create a lot of fantastic programming including the city-wide Socktober Drive, Emergency Fire Relief program, Free to Read literacy program, Summer Garden Concert Series, Christmas Meal and Gift Program, updated the Living Better on Less Program, and the Blanket Bees program.

Finally, having the opportunity to work with the J.O.E. Program, Community FEWD, and Your Downtown Guelph Friends has been a wonderful experience. In particular, I want to acknowledge the amazing work that Kate Nixon has completed on behalf of the program. Thanks to everyone that supported us over the past three years.

Regards,
John Dennis
Helper Bees Coordinator

Thank you so much to Nicole Thorne for your super generous donation of towels, pillows and sheets! It’s very appreciated! ❤️

Some snapshots of surpassing 5000 meals made so far this year! Thank you to all who made it happen.

Epic aprons, featuring socktropolis! 🏙️🧦🏙️🧦🏙️Thank you to all who donated back in Soctober! We are still going strong with lots of socks for the downtown community.

Yesterday we welcomed a group from RWDI! They prepared meals for the Emergency Relief Program (Butter Chicken and Apple Crumble). There were 15 volunteers and they were super helpful! Thank you so much! ❤️

The Helper Bees welcome Lauren Jamieson to our team! Lauren is a CPA, CA working as a manger in public accounting at BDO Canada in Guelph for the last 13 years after graduating university. She is currently a volunteer bookkeeper with another charity in Guelph and is eager and glad to use her skills and knowledge to assist the Helper Bees. Lauren will be helping us with budgeting, tracking expenses, and grant reporting.

Nolan Klein-Geltink is at Grade 9 student at Woodland Christian High School.

In his religion class, the students were assigned a theme project to create a plan to donate to a worthy cause or
organization, and follow through on it. Nolan's first idea was to buy food for the Guelph Food Bank.

However, upon hearing the request at church on Sunday regarding the downtown fire and the need for
clothing, he was inspired and changed his mind and instead decided he wanted to help those who were left
homeless by donating clothing to the Clothing Closet.

With compassion, he went to Walmart and purchased (with his own birthday money!) $127 worth of men's and
boy's socks and underwear.

Thank you Nolan, you are truly inspiring!
Thank you all again who donated to support folks impacted by the downtown fire.

Thank you to all who shared some wealth by donating to our fundraiser for those impacted by the downtown apartment fire March 13th. We surpassed our goal, with 6745$!
Many appreciate your efforts, and it does not go unseen. ❤️

Seeking volunteers every Sunday for the next few months. 11:00 am - 1:30 pm Meal Prep - all going to our free meal program downtown for anyone in need - no questions asked. Food is a human right!
E-mail [email protected] for more information / to express interest.
Thank you!

Today was a great success for the clothing bus! Thank you, all! Donors, volunteers Charles our driver, Christiane at Mission Thrift and The Circular Store!
Thank you to the support of the community who helped to raise funds to make it possible to continue our efforts to support the individuals impacted by the fire that occured at an apartment downtown.
Today families were able to enjoy a day filled with shopping and lunch ❤️ we are so grateful to everyone who made this possible.
People make the world go round. ❤️❤️❤️

Many thanks to for having us on RadiOPIRG! It was a joy to speak with you. Catch the April 13th episode here on CFRU Archives:

https://www.cfru.ca/2023/04/page/10/?post_type=mcm_recording

Thank you for your kind words on our Canada Helps Emergency Relief Fundraiser page. We have surpassed our goal and are continuing to collect donations to expand our aid. We are so lucky to be part of such a kind, compassionate and generous community! 🐝💛👏

🥞 We had a very successful pancake breakfast! Thank you to all who came out for a free meal and to learn more about what we do at YDGF and Helper Bees. There were over 100 people that attended! Making seed bombs with the Guelph Seed Library, as well as finding out about the J.O.E. program, and making some bird houses! We had many volunteers helping out with cooking, cleaning, and welcoming our guests. 🥞

Thank you Danielle! ❤️
Danielle has wrapped up her Co-op term with us this Sunday. She is a student in the Management in Community Services program at Conestoga College. She has been a great asset to both programs helping out with meal distribution, volunteer coordination, fundraising, social media, and she even wrote a story for the Niagara Anglican newspaper. We wish her well as she graduates from her program and moves out west!

Come see us at the Church of the Apostles! Now until 12pm we have free pancakes, music, vendors, and activities for kids!! 🐝🍁🥞

We can always count on to help us out!! 👏💛
We want to say a huge thank you for your quick response in helping us get meals to the families displaced by the fire. We appreciate you!

On Sunday Nicole dropped of a donation or groceries and harm reduction supplies! Thanks Nicole!!🐝👏

Thank you to the Guelph Storm Hockey Club who donated $1,880 to our Fire Relief Fundraiser!! We appreciate your kindness and generosity🐝❤️🏒🥅

Thank you for all of your support during our Spring Bag Drive!
The students at St.Johns and Holy Trinity collected and filled 30 backpacks to be distributed to youth Downtown! Thank you students, OECTA Teachers Union and Mark Bernadine for your kindness and generosity.🐝💜🎒

Happy Easter🐣🐰🌸
Yesterday we celebrated with lots of decorations, candy, sunshine, good food and awesome volunteers!

One week until our free pancake breakfast!! All are welcome!!🥞😋
Come by the Church of the Apostles on Saturday April 15th from 10-12 to enjoy pancakes, community, and learn a little more about what we do at Helper Bees and Your Downtown Guelph Friends!🐝❤️🍁🥞

We want to say a huge thank you to who are matching all donations made to our Emergency Relief Fundraiser, up you our $5,000 goal!!
Their generosity will allow us to increase the length of help we can provide for the families affected by the fire!
Thank you so much, we greatly appreciate your kindness and generosity!!🐝❤️🎉

Wow!! Thanks to your generous support we are over halfway to our goal!💜🎉👏
The fundraiser is running until the end of April so please consider following the link in our bio and donating to help families affected by the Downtown Guelph fire!

Wow!! Thanks to your generous support we are over halfway to our goal!🎉👏💜
The fundraiser is running until the end of April so please consider following the link in our bio and donating to help families that were affected by the Downtown Guelph fire!

Are you looking for a way to help out in your community? Do you have a couple of free hours a week?
We would love to have you join our Helper Bees and Your Downtown Guelph Friends team!! 💛🐝
We are looking for two volunteers
1. Social media assistant: someone to help us monitor our instagram and Facebook and create some awesome posts!
2. Volunteer schedule coordinator: someone to help us monitor our emails and schedule volunteers to come and work in the kitchen

And we are always looking for folks to help us prepare meals on Sundays from 11-2 😃

If you’re interested please reach out at
[email protected]

No April fools pranks here!! Just a reminder of all the awesome things we have going on this month.
🌸YDGF and Bags of Promise are collecting hygiene products to fill backpacks for youth depending on shelters/housing support. Check out their Amazon wish list in their bio
🌸 We are raising money to provide meals for folks that were displaced due to the Downtown Guelph fire. The Canada Helps link is in our bio!!
🌸 On Saturday April 15th the Church of the Apostles is hosting a free pancake breakfast from 10am-12pm. We hope to see you there!
🌸 And as always you can find YDGF handing out meals from 2-3 on Friday’s and Sunday’s downtown!

❤️

First night of drop offs to our friends who were displaced from their apartment downtown.
In partnership with Helper Bees and Community FEWD, we will be bringing meals on a weekly basis to those in hotels and looking to provide them with clothing and other needed items. To support our work check out our fundraiser we have launched located in Helper Bees instagram bio.
We are better together, let's be here for one another ❤️

On March 13th dozens of families were displaced due to a fire in Downtown Guelph. We are raising funds in order to provide meals to 30 individuals that were affected by the fire. Please consider following the link below and donating to help us reach our goal of $5,000!💛

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/emergency-response-fundraiser/