Project Water up and running for the summer

As with Project Winter Survival, Jody Steinhauer wishes there wasn’t a need for Project Water.

Twelve years ago, the founder of The Bargains Group on Caledonia Road launched Project Water as a way to keep the homeless in the Greater Toronto Area hydrated during summer months.

Since its inception, the program has distributed some one million bottles of water to the homeless through more than 150 frontline relief organizations and homeless shelters.

“The (distribution) area keeps growing,” Steinhauer said, adding without the support of Nestle Waters Canada, Project Water would cease to exist. “We serve agencies from Hamilton to Oshawa. It’s not just downtown Toronto anymore. The most at-risk are looked at first. It’s frightening the amount of requests we’ve gotten over the years.”

Plans are in the works to expand Project Water across the country, Steinhauer said.

“We won’t stop doing this until the need isn’t there,” she said.

Steinhauer has a similar attitude about Project Winter Survival, which also operates under The Bargains Group. The program distributes winter survival kits to the homeless, including sleeping bags.

To volunteer to help load water into agency vehicles Wednesday, July 6, email [email protected]

For information, visit www.projectwater.ca