VCFS 2020/2021 CHARITY
On behalf of the entire Vogue Charity Fashion Show team, we are excited to announce that we have chosen to support Almost Home for the 2020/2021 year!
Message from the Charity:
Here at Almost Home, our mission is to provide a place of comfort and respite for families whose children are receiving medical treatment in Kingston area hospitals. Doctors, nurses, therapists and other staff provide intensive medical care for children in hospital. Parents and siblings who stay with us are able to provide the emotional support and love which are equally essential. Almost Home, a wheelchair accessible facility, is located in Kingston, Ontario within easy walking distance of Hotel Dieu Hospital and Kingston General Hospital.
Daily accommodation for eleven families at Almost Home makes it easy for parents to maintain their bedside vigil. Children can frequently leave their hospital beds for a few hours to spend time with their families in a home-like setting. Children attending clinics have a place to go between appointments, or to stay overnight if necessary.
Message from VCFS Co-Heads of Charity:
As co-heads of charity we were tasked with a very tough but rewarding decision to make, choosing one local grassroots charity for VCFS to support. After reading many applications and holding interviews we fell in love with Almost Home. Almost Home is a charity in Kingston that aims to provide a place of comfort and respite for families whose children are receiving medical treatment in Kingston area hospitals.
Overwhelmed with the passion from the charity representatives and the strong sense of community they championed, we knew it was the right choice for Vogue this year. In addition to supporting Almost Home the VCFS team has decided to also target our efforts towards supporting QTBIPOC people on campus and in Kingston.
We plan to support the BLM movement and continue to think of new ways we can make VCFS, Queens and Kingston a more welcoming place. This year is a year of change and we are excited to be a part of this positive change while supporting amazing efforts at home in a Kingston. We encourage you to look into Almost Home and the other organizations we support this year and see what you can do to help.
Alongside, supporting Almost Home, VCFS recognizes the significance of the issues brought to light by recent attention on the Black Lives Matter movement. Specifically, the importance of continuously advocating for and working towards justice with marginalized communities, especially Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and people of colour. As the groups that face the most oppression within society, these individuals tend to be in most need of services like those that Almost Home provides. Disparities within accessibility to healthcare and shelter for QTBIPOC are greatly heightened due to their identities, which is why the work of this charity is so necessary. We will be working with Almost Home to support initiatives that focus on QTBIPOC specifically within their organization. Additionally, we are also committing to supporting QTBIPOC within our own organization, the Queen’s community, and Kingston at large. While our exact plans are still being formulated to be flexible due to the questionable permissibility of hosting events and fundraisers during COVID-19, we promise that our support will be unwavering and look forward to being held accountable for this.
We look forward to working closely with Almost Home throughout the year, and striving to make a difference within the Kingston community!!
If you would like to donate to Almost Home, Please click on the following link:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/almost-home/