About us
Engage and Change is a charity that was created to foster good citizenship and encourage healthy communities by giving back.
We focus on promoting, identifying, and developing partnerships between individuals, for-profit, and not-for-profit organizations to assemble and distribute survival kits to communities in need.
Our flagship program, Project Winter Survival, runs every January. Project Water, which distributed more than five million water bottles across the GTA, is now an archived program.
Board of directors
Founder, President & Board Chair
Founder & Chief Bargain Officer, The Bargains Group
Jody founded Engage and Change to give people and businesses a hands-on, tangible way to help their neighbours in need. She leads the organization and its flagship Project Winter Survival.
Secretary-Treasurer
Management Consultant, Perimeter Development · former Partner, KPMG
Rhonda oversees the financial stewardship and governance that keep every donated dollar working as hard as possible for people on the street.
Board Member
President & Co-Founder, Origo Communications
Laurie brings four decades of direct-marketing and fulfillment experience to the board, with a particular focus on data. He is honoured to serve unhoused and vulnerable communities.
Board Member
CEO & Founder, Versorix
Jaden leads marketing for the board, helping Engage and Change reach more donors, partners, and volunteers and grow the profile of Project Winter Survival.
Board Member
Founder, The Talent Co.
Anne Marie leads volunteers for Engage and Change, drawing on a career across marketing, talent development, and team building. She brings a lifelong commitment to community service.
Board Member
Chief Meteorologist, Global News
Anthony lends his platform and his understanding of winter weather to raise awareness of the dangers the cold poses to people living outside.
The problem
The need our kits answer is growing fast. Here is what the most recent data shows.
people were experiencing homelessness in Toronto on a single night, according to the city’s 2024 Street Needs Assessment, more than double the roughly 7,300 counted in 2021. Over 1,600 of them were sleeping outdoors.
people a night were being accommodated by Toronto’s shelter system by late 2024, with hundreds of families on the placement waitlist and people regularly turned away for lack of space.
people are now experiencing homelessness across Ontario, up roughly 8% in a single year.
of cases cite insufficient income and the lack of affordable housing as leading drivers, a share that has roughly doubled since 2021. Homelessness is also shaped by mental health, addiction, and gaps in the immigration, child-welfare, and health-care systems.
Sources
Testimonials
Thank you for the kits. We went out the next day to hand out to our homeless friends.
Thank you for the donation we received from you folks! Your support is greatly appreciated by us and our service users.
Thanks very much for the sleeping bags and winter survival kits. They will make a meaningful difference for our unhoused community members.
Thank you for the donation, it is truly appreciated.
On behalf of over 1500 clients, volunteers and staff, I would like to thank you for your thoughtfulness in selecting our organization to receive 75 cases of water.
Thank you for what you are doing. We discussed Project Winter Survival with our kids and we decided that rather than buy each other a $100 gift this year for Christmas, each of us would donate this money to Project Winter Survival.
After making two trips to fit 40 survival kits and 40 sleeping bags in my tiny hatchback, there are already several guys out on the streets of Toronto this morning with warmer hands, necks and heads.
Thank you for the work you are doing with Project Winter Survival. I will share information about this important cause.
Your team is amazing, and we at Blythwood cannot thank you enough for everything you do to get the word out that Toronto has a crisis when it comes to homelessness and the marginalized.
In support of Project Winter Survival, I am honoring each one of my staff with the donation of a Survival Kit as their company Christmas gift.
On behalf of Nestlé Waters, we are proud to help such a great cause and work with such outstanding leaders.
The Engage and Change Project Winter Survival has been a truly amazing experience and cause with such a strong sense of purpose towards our community!
Thank you, Jody! The clients really loved the kits, they will help us build stronger relationships with people on the streets going forward.