A new partnership between Woodwynn Farms and an organization known as Close to Home could give families of the addicted and homeless new hope.
The collaboration of the two groups was announced June 26 by Woodwynn Farms executive director Richard Leblanc and Close to Home director Louise Chabros.
"We've chosen to align ourselves with Woodwynn Farms to function as the voice of the families of those with addiction problems or mental illness," explained Chabros.
According to Leblanc, Close to Home will help Woodwynn by bolstering the voice of the Creating Homefulness Society, which runs the farm.
"The most important part is that when we're at the table having discussions with various levels of government about what we do here [at Woodwynn] that the families will be heard from," Leblanc said.
Close to Home, which is in the process of seeking not-for-profit status, was started by Leblanc as a Facebook group over a year ago.
Last July Woodwynn was forced to stop housing homeless on farm property after they were asked to seek regulatory permits and funding, although one client still remains there. In April, the Agricultural Land Commission denied Woodwynn's application to run programs and house homeless on ALR land.
reporter@peninsulanewsreview.com