Breaking the Silence on Grief: How Yorktown’s Growing With Grief Provides Support, Community, and Healing
February 18, 2025
Volunteer Appreciation Week at Yorktown Family Services
April 28, 2025
We’re celebrating the incredible community partners who made a difference at Yorktown Family Services during our 2023/2024 year! From RPIA’s generous donation to CAMH/YWHO’s advocacy and the Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health’s fundraising efforts, these partnerships are helping to strengthen mental health support and violence prevention in our community. Keep reading to learn more about our incredible community partners.
RP Investment Advisors (RPIA)
RPIA’s charitable mission is to: Facilitate charitable giving within our organization and the broader community by working collaboratively with our clients, employees, and community partners. We aim to make a meaningful difference contributing to the betterment of society. We are guided by:
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Empowering Our Communities
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Enhancing Quality of Life
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Fostering Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Andrew Pringle, RPIA, nominated Yorktown Family Services to be the beneficiary of RPIAs annual charitable campaign! RPIA innovatively fulfilled their charitable mission by creating an awareness video for Yorktown and providing a $25,000 donation in support of programs and services! The video featured Suzette Arruda-Santos, CEO, who provided an overview of Yorktown.
The video also included handwritten notes from some of our clients who had benefited from services such as Rainbow West, our Violence Against Women Shelter, and Rapid Access Mental Health Therapy! We thank Andrew Pringle and RPIA for the generous donation and a video that continues to bring awareness to Yorktown and the clients and communities we serve!
“Supporting Yorktown means standing with a community that recognizes the importance of mental health for our youth. Together, we can break the stigma, provide support, and create a safe space where every young person feels heard, understood, and empowered to thrive” — Andy Pringle
The Centre for Mental Health and Addictions (CAMH)/Youth Wellness Hubs of Ontario (YWHO)
Dr. Jo Henderson is the Executive Director of the Youth Wellness Hubs of Ontario (YWHO) at the Centre for Mental Health and Addictions (CAMH). Since 2017 CAMH/YWHO has been a partner agency of Yorktown Family Services (YFS). In 2020, YFS was recognized as a member of the YWHO network and the lead YWHO agency in West Toronto. As a long- term partner of the YWHO, YFS receives funding, backbone support, and investment in the ongoing implementation of the YWHO model of providing care at Yorktown’s West Toronto Youth Wellness Hub (WTYWH).
Dr. Henderson, CEO is accepting the Yorktown Community Partnership on behalf of the YWHO and for their endless advocacy work on a provincial level. Dr. Henderson’s introduction of the YWHO model of care has improved youth access to mental health care, primary health care, and social services providing seamless, barrier-free services for youth across the province. The YWHO model consists of a network of diverse community partners, stakeholders, and institutions providing integrated services.
To date, through their dedication, Dr. Henderson’s leadership has grown the YWHO network to include 27 member agencies across Ontario. Dr. Henderson recognizes the value that local community service provides, promotes youth and family engagement on all levels of service provision, seeks stories and narratives from the community to embrace the diversity of experiences of different youth groups, and demonstrates conviction in the importance of timely response to youth mental health issues.
Thank you, Dr. Henderson, for being a stellar leader in bringing communities together, integrating systems, and promoting positive collaboration among service providers across sectors to meet the mental health, primary health, and social service needs of our youth.
“YWHO has been very fortunate to partner with and learn from Yorktown. In particular, Yorktown’s commitment to innovation and meeting the needs of their community, has inspired the YWHO Provincial Office and other YWHO hubs across the province to implement innovative programming and to constantly ask how we can better meet the needs of those youth we are not yet serving. Yorktown is a partner we know we can count on to represent the values and principles that are core to YWHO and we are thrilled to receive the Community Partnership Award.” — Dr. Jo Henderson, Executive Director, Youth Wellness Hubs of Ontario (YWHO)
Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health and Associates Supporting Yorktown’s Violence Against Women Programs and Services
The Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health – charitable arm of Shoppers Drug Mart – is committed to helping Canadian women lead healthier lives by making care more equitable and accessible.
Every fall, SFWH runs the Giving Shelter National Fundraising and Awareness Campaign to support Violence Against Women (VAW) agencies, enabling them to continue to improve access to care. The Giving Shelter campaign also aims to increase awareness of the health equity gap and women’s unique health needs and support critical women’s health research and innovation. Funds donated in-store or online at shoppersfoundation.ca go directly to VAW shelters and programs.
In 2023 from September 9 to October 6, 2023, sixteen Shoppers Drug Mart Associates raised almost $35,000 at their 22 stores! These proceeds were designated to Yorktown Family Services’ VAW shelter, programs, and services!
We are pleased to recognize the Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health and the Shoppers Drug Mart Associates for their commitment to helping Canadian women lead healthier lives!
Yorktown’s Violence Against Women’s shelter provides a safe-haven for women, many with children, who are survivors of violence. In most cases, women living in abusive relationships are faced with the choice of living with abuse or living in poverty, if they leave. Our goal is to provide women facing this decision a transitional home and the support they require to be equipped to move on to new lives.
The funds raised through the Giving Shelter Campaign support Yorktown to continue to provide emergency shelter for women and children transitioning from lives of violence and abuse, outreach to women in the community experiencing abuse, and counselling and connection to resources and programs that will enable them to rebuild their lives and shape a future for themselves.
We thank the Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health and the incredible Shoppers Drug Mart Associates for their continued investment in Yorktown and the women and children we serve.
It was our honour to recognize these 3 community partners at our 2023/2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in October of 2024!
Interested in supporting Yorktown Family Services and becoming a community partner? Click here to donate now or connect with us!
