History of Aunt Leah's

Since its incorporation as a society in 1988, Aunt Leah's has helped countless children and youth lead healthy, safe, productive lives – kids who might have otherwise fallen through the cracks of the "system" into homelessness, entered the criminal justice system or surrendered to suicide.

How it started
It all started with Aunt Leah’s founder, Gale Stewart. After ten years of being a foster parent with her husband Paul, Gale began to recognize massive gaps in services for young people who were leaving foster care.
These kids were abruptly "dropped" from government care on their 19th birthday. Unless they had some kind of safety net, job or home, the kinds were vulnerable to many tragedies – including homelessness, involvement in criminal activity, drugs and prostitution.
These were young people who had experienced every kind of imaginable pain in their young lives: loss of home, loss of community and loss of parents they knew and loved. In addition, many of them had undiagnosed developmental disorders such as FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder), mental health issues and other learning disabilities.
Gale wanted better for these kids. She began to formulate a plan.

The Pilot Project
Gale's experience as a foster parent enabled her to envision a program that could meet the needs of kids about to age out of foster care. She approached the Ministry for Children and Families and proposed that they allow her to try a new kind of housing program.
This involved securing a private basement suite for teens where they could practice living on their own before they actually had to do it. It would give them time to learn how to be a good tenant, budget their money and work on other goals to help them make a successful transition to adulthood.
At first the Ministry was reluctant to try this "pilot project" but there were some very high risk youth who the Ministry was having difficulty finding placements for so the kids were placed with Gale. Despite the odds, Gale was successful with her plan and it wasn't long before the need arose to incorporate her project into a non-profit organization.

The Birth of Aunt Leah's Place
In 1988, Aunt Leah's was founded.
The first program was Aunt Leah's House --a licensed, 5-bed residential program for pregnant and parenting teens in foster care.
Following the launch of Aunt Leah's House, Gale developed the Support Link Program which provided teens about to age out of foster care with semi-independent suites.
Over the years, as new needs were identified, Gale added programs, recruited family, friends and neighbours to help out and expanded the organization to include social enterprises like the Aunt Leah's Thrift Store and Aunt Leah's Christmas Tree Lots.
Today Aunt Leah's has 32 staff members (full and part-time), 8 Board Members and several hundred volunteers. Programs include supported housing, job training, a series of essential life skills workshops, as well as successful social enterprises that provide revenue and job training.
Over two decades down the road, Aunt Leah's continues to offer a family-like support network and continuum of care to some of the most vulnerable young people in our community.
Aunt Leah's tries to replicate what most young people in our society have as a matter of course–a place to return to, a listening ear, financial support from time to time, and the help of caring adults when needed.