2025 Moffat Family Fund Grant Results

This project is to match the young people on our waitlist by recruiting safe, screened and trained mentors in the Community Mentoring Program. Our life-changing mentoring relationships have been proven to help break the cycle of poverty, drugs, and violence by encouraging healthy lifestyles, furthering education, accelerating engagement into society, and ultimately – providing access and opportunity to youth who would not be on a trajectory to success. We build up youth to build up their community and create lasting systemic changes throughout Moose Jaw. The solution is mentoring.

This project is to provide children and youth in Moose Jaw with access to transformative artistic and cultural experiences, ensuring financial barriers do not limit their creative potential. Through Creative Kids Saskatchewan, we will fund up to $750 per child, supporting 30 participants in music, dance, theater, and visual arts programs. These activities foster self-expression, social inclusion, and skill development, equipping youth with confidence, creativity, and resilience. Many families in Moose Jaw face financial hardships that prevent their children from engaging in extracurricular arts, widening opportunity gaps. By funding direct participation costs, this initiative will allow children to explore their passions, strengthen their mental well-being, and connect with their cultural heritage. With the Moffat grant, we will ensure that every child, regardless of income, has the opportunity to experience the life-changing benefits of the arts and realize their full potential.

This project’s purpose is to support the health and nutrition of children aged 0-18 by providing a daily consistent lunch at no cost.

This project is designed to provide a flexible and accommodating environment that meets the unique developmental, social, and learning needs of children with severe developmental and intellectual disabilities.

1. Work Skills Training: This project will provide opportunities for youth to gain work skills that will help them recognize and develop their skills, see their worth and value, and become successful, contributing members of society. Mentorship is an important part of this project. Our Voltage Movie Premiere honors and highlights the youth involved in this program.
2. Outdoor Adventure: Joe’s Place also sponsors youth to attend day trips, camps & retreats that provide the opportunity to experience the beauty of nature while participating in life-changing physical activities led by caring adults and peers. Some of this adventure will take place inside our building as we have a 30-foot climbing wall and numerous other activities. Team building, mentorship and life skills development are also very important parts of this project.

Expand our children’s programming to hire .25 FTE Children’s Worker to provide Therapeutic Play for children that have been exposed to violence and reside in our shelter and participate in our outreach programs. Through their participation in therapeutic play, children learn that they are not alone int heir journey, find their voice, and ultimately being to see their future in a new light.

This project is to help us manage the increased number of food bank visitors and assist us in safely and efficiently collecting and distributing non-perishable and culturally appropriate food choices by allowing us to purchase a loading dock plate, a floor scale and an online booking system. Food Bank visits have doubled in 2 years, causing us to make 2 changes to our program. We replaced the hamper model with a a client choice shopping model. Research indicates that the hamper model creates food waste by giving a select amount of pre-chosen products to all, where the shopping model reduces food waste, by allowing clients to choose only what they need, while giving them a sense of dignity and autonomy. We also began recruiting Food Recovery Partners, these partners are local grocers that provide us with food close to its best before date. We have recruited 3 new partners, increasing donated food by 20%. We are now receiving up to fifteen more pallets of food weekly. These positive changes have added strain on our warehouse and client intake teams. This project will ensure that our warehouse and client intake team can safely and efficiently handle the increased workload.

This project is to reduce food insecurity, improve nutrition education, and empower individuals and families with the skills and resources needed for long-term healthy eating habits. Through the Nutrition Initiative Program (NIP), community members will gain reliable access to nutritious food, learn practical cooking and meal-planning skills, and benefit from stronger local food partnerships that ensure affordability and sustainability. By integrating food distribution, education, and community collaboration, this initiative will create lasting positive impacts on the health and well-being of individuals and families in Moose Jaw and area.

Educate students in grades 7 through 12 about the risks and consequences of alcohol, drugs and impaired driving.

This project is intended to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Métis youth in the Moose Jaw area by bringing them together with Métis Elders, Métis cultural practitioners, and mental health professionals on a weekly basis. By encouraging the intergenerational transfer of cultural skills and knowledge in an environment where mental health supports are also engaged in program delivery, we will build the self-confidence and pride our youth have in their Métis heritage, improve their ability to make healthy life choices around substance use, and reduce the incidence of addiction and self-harm in our Métis community.

This project is to encourage reading and writing skills in preteen students by hosting a free workshop with a professional author as the instructor.

This project is to provide opportunities for individuals 18 years and over have been homeless or experiencing housing insecurity to receive supports to gain and maintain independent living in the community. Supportive housing provides intensive case management to connect the individual with required health, social services, mental health and addictions, education/employment, and community supports. Case managers and support workers ensure that the individuals on the supportive housing program have their rents and utilities paid, food sources are available, and other basic needs are met in order to avoid eviction risk. This project works in partnership with the Moose Jaw Non-Profit Housing Corporation (owners of William Milne building) and collaboratively with Willow Lodge emergency shelter, MJ Police Services, EMS, a local physician, Salvation Army (trusteeship services), Hope Ministries and Community Connections (food security), Mental Health and Addictions, John Howard Society My Place program, among others. 

This project aims to enhance food security, provide essential hygiene supplies, and improve transportation access for guests at Willow Lodge shelter. Willow Lodge has become an vital resource in the community, particularly following the closure of another shelter in the city, leading to a significant increase in demand for our services. Currently, our funding allows us to provide one hot meal and a bagged breakfast for 15 guests, but we frequently accommodate up to 18 guests in overflow beds. Supplemental funding will enable us to offer additional snacks, beverages, and special holiday meals, ensuring guests feel valued and cared for during their stay. Furthermore, we will be able to provide vital hygiene products such as soap, toothpaste, and sanitary items, promoting dignity and reducing health risks. Currently, we lack funding for transportation, which limits the mobility of guests, especially those with physical disabilities. With supplemental funding, we will be able to provide bus tickets, helping these individuals access job interviews, medical appointments, and essential services, fostering their independence and long-term stability.

This project aims to provide mentorship services to children and youth (aged 6-18) who demonstrate persistent behavior, emotional or social concerns. Participants have difficulties with peer relationships, lack a positive role model as well as have limited connections to the community or existing social networks. This program is intended to support youth by providing positive adult role models, access to services, connection to peers and to develop tools to support emotional regulation, anxiety and food security. Mentorship will also connect youth to services within their community such as mental health supports, library and community programs.