This holiday season, thousands of your neighbours are without a safe home. Your gift can provide warmth, food, and life-changing support.
During the holiday season, many people in Toronto are gathering with loved ones, sharing meals, and exchanging gifts. But for over 15,000 people who are homeless, this time of year brings a very different reality. For Maria, who has been living in an encampment since fleeing an unsafe situation, winter means battling the cold with little more than a thin blanket. Safe indoor spaces across the city fill quickly, leaving many people like her without a warm place to stay. Freezing temperatures increase the risk of illness, injury, and exhaustion — conditions that become dangerous as nights grow longer and colder.
People experiencing homelessness often face impossible choices during the winter. Maria spends her days looking for somewhere warm, a hot meal, and basic necessities while trying to navigate a system stretched beyond capacity. Rising rents and higher living costs push more people to the edge of losing their housing. These pressures make community support especially critical during the holiday season, when the contrast between comfort and crisis is felt most deeply.
How your support makes a direct impact
Your donations to Fred Victor can address urgent needs and provide immediate relief. Donations through our Shop for Good catalogue turn into tangible supports: warm meals, winter clothing, winter care kits, and safer spaces to sleep. For someone like Maria, these supports become lifelines during extreme weather. These services protect health, preserve dignity, and offer stability during a season when people need them most. A warm coat, a nutritious meal, or a safe bed can make the difference between surviving the night and facing serious harm.
“What Your Holiday Gift Makes Possible” — meals, winter essentials, safer nights, and housing support
Your contribution also strengthens long-term solutions. Housing workers, outreach teams, and program staff help people secure permanent housing, access health care, reconnect with family, and explore employment or training opportunities. Each Shop for Good purchase provides tools to help people move forward. Every donation helps someone take a step away from crisis and toward stability — no matter where they are in their journey.
A warm bed can be the start of a new beginning
For someone who is homeless, a warm bed and a safe place indoors can open the door to a different future. Maria says that on the nights she can sleep somewhere warm, she finally has the clarity to think beyond immediate survival. Stability — even for one night — and having supportive staff behind them helps people set goals, rebuild routines, and imagine new possibilities.
This holiday season, choosing a gift from our Shop for Good catalogue is more than an act of generosity — it’s a practical way to support a neighbour facing homelessness and offer a foundation for change. Your gift can help someone survive today and begin rebuilding their life with dignity, confidence, and support. When we come together as a community, especially during the holiday season, we can ensure that more people have access to warmth, safety, and the support they need to move toward a brighter, more stable future.
Donate today at fredvictor.org/shop_for_good to help someone who is homeless stay warm and safe this holiday season.
