The pandemic has been isolating to everyone but it has been disproportionally more isolating for seniors who also struggle with poverty. Anxiety, along with food insecurity and increased health risks, is making life extremely challenging for many of LOFT’s senior clients.

With the transformative support of United Way Greater Toronto’s Allan Slaight Seniors Fund, we are expanding support for those most socially and economically at-risk – seniors struggling with mental health and addictions in our community through our Life Enrichment Program

LOFT has offered hope and supportive housing to those most in need in our community for 67 years. We are now one of the largest organizations of our kind in Ontario, with the growth made possible through our belief in the power of partnerships.

Just as collaboration with long-standing partners like CAMH and Toronto Community Housing is critical to LOFT’s meaningful work, it is through extraordinary philanthropic partnerships like this that we can expand our impact.

This support is more critical now than ever. It means that LOFT will be able to expand our reach, hire dedicated staff, and offer a person-centred approach that will meet each client’s physical, emotional and intellectual needs. 

The Life Enrichment Program will allow us to bring the benefits of improved quality of life to a broader spectrum of seniors across the province. This proven program takes a person-centred approach, meeting each client’s physical, emotional and intellectual needs. Here are just a few of the activities we’ll be able to provide:

Music Therapy

Instrumental sounds and singing can help those living with dementia exercise cognitive abilities and tap into happy memories.

Pet Therapy

Interacting with animals is an effective way to help seniors tackle feelings of isolation.

Behavioural Support Activities

Understanding our clients’ behaviours makes it possible for us to tailor individual support.

Virtual Games

Keeping the mind active – especially during the pandemic – can help curb loneliness.

Our Life Enrichment Program has been running at LOFT’s John Gibson House (JGH) with great success. One client at JGH, an avid tennis player in his youth, began playing a weekly 20-minute match with his Life Enrichment Worker. Before long he was smoking less, getting more sleep and exercising regularly. He’s set a new personal improvement goal and is working hard to reach it.

Powerful interventions like this give us so much hope for what we will be able to accomplish together over the next five years. We are deeply grateful to The Slaight Family Foundation’s investment of nearly one million dollars to LOFT Community Services through United Way Greater Toronto’s Allan Slaight Seniors Fund.