WELCOME HOME KITS
What are Welcome Home Kits?
Welcome Home Kits provide basic household supplies to individuals and families transitioning from shelters to permanent housing. These kits enable recipients to start their new lives with the materials required to cook and serve meals and to attend to personal hygiene.
United Way works with individuals, groups, organizations, and partners to collect new household items that are assembled into useful kits. The kits are then distributed to local agencies by request to provide to their clients. Since the program was established in 2012, over 5,300 kits have been distributed across Niagara to individuals and families in need.
Inside the kits:
Full set of tableware
Glasses and mugs
Cutlery
Large frying pan
Large pot
Baking sheet
Colander
Cooking utensils
Can opener
Dish soap
Dish cloth & towel
Towels
Soap
Shampoo & conditioner
Toilet paper
Storage Tote
How to get involved
Sponsor your own packing party. Have you and your coworkers or a group of friends get together to help pack all of the supplies for Welcome Home Kits. There is a significant ongoing demand and we are always in need of packed kits ready to give to people in the community.
Contact Lillian Wood at [email protected] or 905-688-5050 ext. 2115 to learn more about how a packing party works.
Program Testimonials
“Everything in the kit I needed and used. I had nothing when I moved – not even a knife and a fork. It was perfect. Thank you.”
“People staying in shelters are always struggling to try to make their limited budget fit and moving to a new place brings lots of unexpected expenses. For some clients, buying items like dishes, cleaning supplies, or even cutlery becomes almost impossible and they need to decide between being able to have some food in their cupboards or buy utensils. Some of the clients that have been able to benefit from the project had expressed that they had never had brand new dishes or pots in their entire life and the kits mean so much for them.”