A non-profit organization helping vulnerable people flee abusive living situations in the GTA reaches 2,750 moves this month.
The national charity, Shelter Movers, provides free moving and storage services to individuals and families who need assistance leaving their home environment.
Chapter director of Shelter Movers Toronto Meredith Cammisuli says, on average, 45 moves are made each month. She says 80 to 85 per cent of the people she’s moving have children. “When you’re five or six, six months without your stuff is a lifetime.”
This is part of a broader initiative to tackle gender-based violence in the province of Ontario. Announced in August, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services is investing $100 million over the next three years to support community initiatives like Shelter Movers.
According to the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, the number of women killed in Ontario has gone up by 68 per cent since 2018.
