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Chez Doris, located in Montreal's Saint-Henri neighbourhood, is a charitable organization that offers a daily daytime shelter for all women in need. The shelter provides meals, shelter, clothing, hygiene services, socio-recreational activities, and practical assistance to all women in difficulty. Their mission is to offer women a safe and non-judgemental space to live.

Contents

 * 1History
 * 2Services
 * 2.1Drop-In Services
 * 2.2Meal Service
 * 2.3Financial Administration Service
 * 2.4Clothing Service
 * 2.5Hygiene Services
 * 2.6Inuit Assistance Program
 * 2.7Aboriginal Housing Program
 * 2.8Legal Clinic
 * 2.9Income Tax Service
 * 3News Stories
 * 3.1Montreal GazetteMay 7, 2018: $1 million donation to Chez Doris announced at fundraising tea[29]
 * 3.2CTV
 * 3.3CBC
 * 3.4Montreal Times
 * 4Board of Directors[35]
 * 5References
 * 6External links

History[edit]
In 1974 in Montreal, a homeless woman named Doris Halfkenny Seale was interviewed by Sheila Baxter. Baxter was going around to women working as prostitutes and asking them about their situations and how women alike could benefit. Seale responded with “'a place to go without prying eyes and too many questions'”. This later became the inspiration for Baxter to create a women's shelter for impoverished women in the Montreal area, seeing as how men in the 1970s had their own shelters, but women did not. The shelter came to be known as Chez Doris, but not before Seale's body was found raped and murdered in a freezing shed on St. Urbain Street in Montreal's Chinatown. The murder remains unsolved, as no one has been charged with this crime, but that doesn't mean Seale has been forgotten.Doris' memory continues to serve the mission of the shelter, which is to offer a safe and inclusive space for women, no questions asked.

Since its opening in 1977, Chez Doris has struggled to retain its daily upkeep, especially after facing large renovation and maintenance costs in 2016. However, following a $1 million donation from retired Montreal businessman, Andrew Harper, Chez Doris is not only able to sustain regular finances, but also expand. Currently, Chez Doris is located at 1430 Chomedey Street, but as upwards of 80 women are helped per day, the shelter now has the funds to open up a second location following the generous donation, which is aimed to relocate counseling and administrative services and provide emergency overnight beds for local women in need.

This past October, the shelter received a donation of $1 million from Andrew Harper, a retired Montreal businessman. Following this event, Chez Doris bought a second building across the street and announced that it will offer a space for the shelter to open an overnight shelter for women. They are currently undergoing research on the needs of the shelter with hopes of it’s opening in the coming years.

Drop-In Services[edit]
Chez Doris’ drop-in services are available daily to all homeless women on the basis that social interaction can help ease their seclusion from society. The purpose of these drop-in services is to help women gain support systems through communities and activities offered by the shelter. Additionally, the women who go to the drop-in services have access to beds until closing and clean clothing donations.

Meal Service[edit]
Chez Doris offers two meals for women per day: breakfast from 8:30 a.m to 10:30 a.m. and lunch from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. These meals are meant to allow women to gain the nutrition that they need throughout the day, and in the case of an emergency, the shelter has 75 food bags to offer each day. In addition to providing meals, the shelter offers education and nutrition workshops three times per week for women with limited incomes.

Financial Administration Service[edit]
Chez Doris’ financial administration service provides psychosocial aid to registered women in order to situate their lives by making appointments, finding housing, and completing necessary forms and payments. The women work with caseworkers to manage their money from financial assistance cheques, in order to fulfill the aforementioned psychosocial requirements.

Clothing Service[edit]
Chez Doris is able to provide clients with clothing that is donated by the community. Outerwear, pyjamas, and undergarments are all accepted as donations at the shelter. Specifically around winter, Chez Doris benefits greatly from seasonal clothing donations consisting of warm jackets, mittens, hats, and scarves. In order to retain a steady influx of available clothing for the women, the shelter sometimes puts out pleas to receive donations, which allows them to quickly receive the aid.

Hygiene Services[edit]
Chez Doris offers clients access to clean washrooms, showers, and haircuts, which they may otherwise not have available to them. The shelter accepts donations of toiletries, which they can then provide their clients with.

Inuit Assistance Program[edit]
Makivik Corporation is a partner of Chez Doris, allowing the shelter to have a caseworker on staff to help Chez Doris better support Inuit women in need. Through this partnership and the establishment of the Inuit Assistance Program, Chez Doris hopes to better provide these women with medical care and social services to help prevent their homelessness. Through taking measures to provide them with more self-confidence to manage their relationships and money, Chez Doris hopes to support Inuit women in their path.

Aboriginal Housing Program[edit]
Chez Doris has an Aboriginal caseworker on staff to help provide support to homeless Aboriginal women. Through their Aboriginal Housing Program, they hope to provide women with housing stability, access to community services, and help them be re-introduced to the job sector.

Legal Clinic[edit]
Chez Doris is in partnership with the McGill Faculty of Law which provides the shelter with students, supervised by a professor, who can assist clients with legal information. The goal of this program is for the students to have the opportunity to work with the clients in order to prevent legal problems and help clients with basic legal matters, such as letters and forms.

Income Tax Service[edit]
Chez Doris provides an income tax service which helps clients ensure they are able to fill out their forms in a proper manner to ensure they benefit from tax credits and refunds if eligible.

Montreal GazetteMay 7, 2018: $1 million donation to Chez Doris announced at fundraising tea[edit]

 * July 18, 2018: Chez Doris seeks clothing donations to meet asylum seekers’ needs

CTV[edit]

 * July 20, 2018: Chez Doris women’s shelter receives influ of donations after plea for help

CBC[edit]

 * Oct. 5, 2018: Chez Doris buys new building, hopes to expand services thanks to $1M donation
 * Oct. 8, 2018: Chez Doris puts out call for warm-clothing donations as winter raps on Montreal’s door

Montreal Times[edit]
Oct. 18, 2018: Chez Doris Day Shelter opens second shelter for homeless women in Montreal

Board of Directors[edit]

 * Carole Croteau – President
 * Sylvia Martin-Laforge – Vice-President
 * Michelina Lanni – Treasurer
 * Jill Hugessen – Secretary
 * Mélanie Allaire – Board Member
 * Cristel Chabot Lapointe – Board Member
 * Talar Dikijian – Board Member
 * Sylvie Girard – Board Member
 * Pat Hardt – Board Member
 * Kent Hovey-Smith – Board Member
 * Lyn Lalonde-Lazure – Board Member
 * Mario Lefebvre – Board Member
 * Mark Shalhoub – Board Member
 * Sonia Tournay – Board Member