Employees at Enercare are proud of their Fresh Start Program. Caring and genuine, the Enercare Fresh Start Program was developed with input from Enercare employees. They wanted to ensure that Fresh Start would provide significant support to the communities they lived and worked in.
Organized by partnering with local organizations to help disadvantaged families living in temporary housing, the Enercare Fresh Start Program helps families get back on their feet by providing personalized Fresh Start Comfort Packages containing simple necessities, small luxuries and professional home tips, all important when venturing on a new beginning in a new home.
Recognizing that families who find themselves in temporary housing due to unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances have little to no possessions, the Enercare Fresh Start Program is designed to help families transitioning from temporary housing to a home of their own.
Enercare partnered with Bethlehem Housing and Support Services in 2017. To date Enercare’s Ontario West team has provided 45 Fresh Start Kits to families transitioning from our year-long temporary housing program in Bethlehem Place to a permanent affordable home in the community.
Bethlehem’s client Chantelle is a single mother of four children. Following a relationship breakdown and prolonged period of experiencing depression, Chantelle began an on-line search for a suitable housing where she could start over with her four children. Moving from Pickering to Niagara, she readily participates in the transitional housing program run by Bethlehem Place Support Workers. Three of her children are currently living with her in Bethlehem Place and one continues to visit from Pickering.
Every program that I’ve done at Bethlehem has shown me my rights as a person, a mother, and what I want for my life. I’ve always attended each program with an open mind. I have an understanding that because I’m dealing with making life changes and I also have children ages 13 to 7 years old, there are many emotional levels and five people to consider and plan for. - Chantelle
Enercare’s employees enjoy working closely with charitable partners like Bethlehem. By working closely with Bethlehem’s Support Workers they are able to customize each package to meet the individual needs of each recipient family.
Chantelle is now ready to move into permanent housing with her children and is eager to get started with her new life. She is brave, bubbly and caring. The children are all inquisitive and love spending time together and engaging in fun activities. – Mayra Orellana, Support Worker
Every Enercare Fresh Start package includes a wide range of specific household items intended to help each family feel confident, safe and prepared in their new environment. Included in Chantelle’s package are linens, kitchen accessories, gardening tools, art supplies, plus running shoes and sporting equipment for her children.
Now I’m moving to a permanent home of our own. My children and I are definitely more focused and confident. I’m proud of that. Change is what I’ve taken from this experience. If you want the change, you will get the change. Change comes with tears, laughter, anger, frustration, happiness, and it all makes you stronger, loving, and more understanding. You learn to heal. - Chantelle
We are thankful for Enercare’s Fresh Start Program, helping families transitioning from Bethlehem Place to a home of their own.
Enercare is a commercial and residential warming, cooling and water heating business. Stretching across Ontario with a presence in many cities and towns including Thunder Bay, Windsor, Ottawa, Toronto and throughout Niagara and Fort Erie, one of their proudest accomplishments is in how they give back to their communities. Click here for more information.