Monday, April 25, 2016

800 Empty Bowls and counting


Those who are now the owner's of a shiny new Empty Bowl will have been enriched by the shared experience yesterday in the Milton community.


It was again incredible to see so many contented members of the community, young and old, chatting while enjoying lunch together at the Milton Centre for the Arts.


Empty Bowls has raised well over $40,000 alone since it started, suggesting we have approximately 800 owners of Empty Bowls in our community. Fabulous. Please display your bowl at home so you can tell other people about it.

Brenda Morrow on why Empty Bowls & MTH is important.



It was very much appreciated to see Indira Naidoo-Harris, MPP Halton, proudly clutching her black and red bowl. Indira has been a long time supporter of MTH from the start.

Thank you volunteers

"Thank you all for a wonderfully successful EMPTY BOWLS yesterday! The soup was delicious, and the staff was even better! We really appreciate all you do for Milton Transitional Housing and for working so well together to host this annual event"; added Lorna Turner. 

Thank you sponsors


Your continued and growing support of Empty Bowls and MTH is testament that you also see this issue as important in our community. Your sponsorship is very much appreciated and is making a tangible difference.

Bowl sponsors: Simply Creative & Tree Top Pottery
Food sponsors: The Bistro on Main, Boston Pizza, The Escarpment Tea Room, Gay Lee, Hawthorne Cafe, Kelsey's. La Rose, Mama Mila's cafe, Marquee, Mohawk Chop House, Scooters Catering Shoeless Joe's & Swiss Chalet.

Media sponsors: The Canadian Champion (Inside Halton), Snapd, Ads at Work, Milton Villager & Main25 media.

MTH is a proud recipient of a grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation and is supported by Halton region. Financial grants have also been provided by The Gear Foundation & Oakville & Milton Real Estate Board "Realtors Care Foundation".


Photos courtesy of Stacey Newman. Statistics quoted are estimates.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Lunch is served today at #EmptyBowls2016

Head to the Milton Centre for the Arts to show your support for those at risk of homelessness. You will be supporting the great work of Milton Transitional Housing with your purchase of a designer bowl and gourmet soups.


We welcome you for soup and lunch from 11.30 today.

In the years since the first Empty Bowls event in 2011, Milton Transitional Housing (MTH) has been able to help 9 adults and 7 children through its innovative solution in the Milton community.

The best news we have to give you is that in 2015 we graduated two more successful participants, for a total of five participants or participant families since we started in early 2012. All of our graduates have moved into independent housing they can afford! Currently, MTH has five supported housing units (all full) with immediate plans to increase to seven units by the end of 2016 and to 10 by the end of 2018.


We need your support today to continue this great work.Come down and tell your friends and family. Remember to use #EmptyBowls2016 across all social media. You will find us on Twitter @MiltonTH1



People struggle to provide food for their families and keep a roof over their heads at the same time. MTH helps families and individuals in this terrible predicament by providing bridge accommodation and supportive counselling to people in Milton who are experiencing a housing crisis.

We really appreciate all the work of our amazing volunteers and the restaurants who have again given so generously.

Friday, April 22, 2016

"Should we collaborate?"

Ahead of Sunday's Empty Bowls event a provocative post on whether we have too many homeless charities? 



We reportedly have 3,450 communities in Canada, so should we each support those at risk of homelessness? Is there a risk that we compete with each other for donations and share of voice?

There are examples of big charities merging together. How should we collaborate?

Read the Too many Empty Bowls post here




Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Use hashtag #EmptyBowls2016



Use #EmptyBowls2016 across all social media







Monday, April 11, 2016

Voices from those at risk of homelessness

We can only help those at risk of homelessness by hearing from them first hand. Here are two stories with just these insights.



Two articles were published in the last week
Click on the hyperlinks above to go to the online stories.

The Putting a 'human face on poverty in Hamilton interviews four people affected by poverty to hear the challenges they faced and have overcome. These stories were shared at a Voices from the Margins session at McMaster University's Continuing Education Centre.

Putting faces to homelessness describes work by two passionate Waterloo students Justin Chan and Konica Kochar, who have built a tremendous Facebook page called Homeless in Waterloo with real stories.  It demonstrates the power of social media in creating social change.

I encourage you to 'Like' the Homeless in Waterloo Facebook page


Congratulations to the journalists, Kitchener Post and The Hamilton Spectator for sharing these stories. Share the link to this post across your social media accounts.

Photograph reproduced with kind permission from The Hamilton Spectator.


Saturday, April 9, 2016

Diagnosis: Poverty - Poverty Tool

Powerful piece relating the consequences of poverty to life expectancy and how proactive family doctors are using tools to address



Read Diagnosis: Poverty by Susan Peters in the April United Church Observer

"In Winnipeg, residents of the city’s wealthiest areas tended to live 18 years longer than residents living in the poorest areas"

 The article cites great examples of poverty tools such as Get Your Benefits in Manitoba. Peters describes how in Toronto where St Michael's Hospital has employed a team to tackle the issue.


"Effectively treating the health consequences of poverty requires more than a pamphlet. To do it properly, already cash-strapped health-care systems may have to fund a range of new programs and jobs"

Peters also refers to a 1991 study that showed an increased life expectancy for Canadian men living in higher-income neighbourhoods.

Read Diagnosis: Poverty by Susan Peters in the April United Church Observer

Susan Peters is a journalist in Winnipeg @susan_peters

It is great to see increasing media highlighting the issue and discussions the ways to address it. We  can surely only be successful through an open collaborative multi-professional approach supporting by the Provinces.