Canada Post foundation grants total of $1.5m

The Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health today announced grants totalling more than $1.5m to 32 non-profit, community- based organisations. The grants will help them provide support and programming for people living with mental illness.

The donations, which come from money raised by Canada Post in 2009, were allocated to a wide range of organisations which offer many facets of mental illness support and treatment programmes.

The grassroots groups include nine organisations in Western Canada, 10 in Ontario, seven in Quebec and six in Eastern Canada. They will receive grants of up to $65,000 each. A full list of recipients is available at canadapost.ca/hope.

“Canada Post serves every Canadian so it is appropriate that we champion a cause that touches nearly every Canadian,” said Stewart Bacon, president and CEO of Canada Post. “Across Canada, our employees are trusted neighbours and friends and their personal involvement in supporting this cause has helped the Foundation to raise these much-needed funds. Together, we have the power to influence the conversation about mental illness for the better, reducing the stigma surrounding it. By engaging customers, suppliers and the public, Canada Post employees have raised more than $2.5m for the Foundation in the last two years. We have made an important contribution in our communities and every employee should be very proud.”

“These grants make a real difference in the quality and range of front-line services community organisations can offer. There’s a direct and positive impact on the quality of life for people living with mental illness,” notes James Roche, chairman of the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health. “The support people with mental illness receive is crucial to their ability to lead independent and productive lives. By helping to fund that support in local communities, our Foundation offers them and their loved ones hope. Hope delivered by Canada Post.”