The Canadian Red Cross Society has granted the Ghanaian-Canadian Association of Ontario (GCAO) with $99844.00 to enhance the services GCAO currently provides the community to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The money will help increase our capacity to reach our seniors, children, youth, women, frontline workers, and the vulnerable in order to provide services such as virtual educational support, health & wellness, food and personal protection equipment.
As a community, this funding is timely for us to do more to alleviate the impact of COVID-19.

What is covered:
The funding will be used to expand our existing programs in the following areas:
– Food security
– After school programs and Mentorship
– Health Awareness, Skill developments & job search counseling
– Resource for Seniors and youth engagement
– Community education and social intervention activities including workshops on health and wellness.
– Chronic health and mental health tool kits, social justice and other general community issues
– PPE to seniors and the vulnerable

How to participate:
Information has been provided to our Community Associations and Christian & Muslim and other
faith leaders to be on the frontline to assist in identifying all those in our community who need help
during COVID-19 period. All community leaders are encouraged to use local Ghanaian languages to
reach out to all the people in our community.
Apart from contacting us through our community leaders, seniors and the vulnerable can also
contact program leaders spanning across the GTA and beyond for the food program.

Contact information
Toronto – Felicia Botchway: 647-202-2594
Brampton – Obaa Yaa: 647-668-9069
Mississauga – Nana Anane: 416-886-4546
Outside GTA Reach out to your leaders to contact us

For more details about the food program all other programs listed above, please visit the GCAO
website gcaocanada.org

Community members who are interested in signing up for services can sign up here at
https://forms.gle/52nAVqRtaLu6WEsk7
Please note: Personal information gathered for this program will be treated with strict
confidentiality.

About the Programs and Services

Meals on Wheels

This program aims to provide food security during the COVID-19 period. To be able to protect the vulnerable members in our community, Ghanaian hot and frozen meals will be delivered periodically. Special diets are available as needed based on request. Food will be prepared by volunteer Ghanaian Chefs who are licensed to cook. This program is designed to support families who are unable to prepare warm meals particularly seniors and families in self-isolation who do not have regular access to food

Community Grocery and PPE (Delivery: Groceries & PPE)

To ensure the needs of the community are met, GCAO will collaborate with Ghanaian owned Groceries, farms and other businesses to obtain healthy groceries baskets, PPEs and other resources at a competitive price to be distributed. We will partner with Grocery stores across the GTA to provide safe, healthy and nutritious quality food including fresh, frozen, non-perishable foods.
Deliveries will take place on Saturdays.
This program will also deliver a range of PPEs

Virtual Homework Club and Mentorship

The academic improvement of children in our community is vital to the growth of the community and as such, GCAO is scaling up the Homework club to be able to provide services virtually. The program is designed to provide homework support as well as other educational support for children ages 5 to 17. This program is held online every Sunday, from 3:00pm – 5:00pm.

Participants in this program will be able to work one-on-one with volunteer teachers on
various activities such as:
 Tutoring and Mentorship
 Language and Cultural education
 Self-development education
 Homework support
 Navigating Library Resources
 Digital Literacy

Seniors Connect

Social Isolation and its impact continue to emerge as a local and national issue. With Ghanaian seniors, it is much more complex as culture plays an impact. This program is designed to connect seniors to programs to reduce isolation by engaging them to actively participate and run programs for themselves. The program will be run by seniors who will deliver programs that address their needs. The program will focus on the following activities:
 Senior Digital Literacy
 Exercise programs
 Peer-to-Peer connect
 Senior Educational programs include:
o Falls Prevention
o Financial Management
o Personal Hygiene
o Safety Checks
o Disease Management
o Aging 101

Virtual Community Health Education Series – Our Health Matters Series

The rising number of health conditions among Canadians of African dissent continue to increase due to various factors associated with lifestyle and awareness. Some of these conditions are exacerbated during this COVID-19 period.
This program is designed to help bring awareness and promote education to community members including the youth, women and men.
Programs covered include the following: Coping with Anxiety during COVID-19
 Caring for Family Members with disability or Aging Parents
 Introduction to Diabetes Management during COVID-19
 Strategies to communicate and Support People with Dementia
 Strategies to communicate or support people with Autism
 How to Stay Heart Healthy During COVID-19
 Cardiovascular Disease Management During COVID-19
 How to obtain health support in the community
 Mental health support

This program will also develop health navigation resources for the groups including Seniors, Women, the youth and Children and mental health support for all ages. This program will be run by nurses and social workers in the GCAO as well as in partnership with existing healthcare service providers who specialize in healthcare among Ghanaians such as dental clinic, eye clinic, mental health centres, nutrition services, etc.

Virtual Non-Health Education Series

Social factors are linked to increased health problems as well as poverty among the black communities. Our community is vulnerable to social injustices and vices due to inadequate education, housing, and employment opportunities. This Non-health education series will focus on discussions to increase awareness and community empowerment. Conversation series will focus on the following topics:
 Digital Literacy
 Financial literacy
 Employment Strategies
 Entrepreneurship
 Self-Development and Self-Empowerment
 Criminal Justice and self esteem
Experts will be invited to provide education and seminars in these areas.

Virtual Support & Counselling

This program is designed to provide online or phone services that focus on emotional support and counselling. Issues such as coping with the Pandemic, grieving, domestic abuse, care-giving, stress management, loneliness will be part of the program. Participants in this program may be provided with confidential support in areas such as:
 Legal Counseling
 Mental Health Counseling Program
 Chronic Health Management Program
 Telephone Safety Checks