Isn’t it amazing how it all adds up?
I’m talking about snow, of course.
The Ottawa area, where I’m based, has seen nearly 33 centimetres of snow since the start of winter, and a Kingston-based colleague of mine said, “Farmer’s Almanac called for a cold, dry winter for Eastern Ontario this year. On a totally unrelated note, Farmer’s Almanac is going out of business this year.” I’m visiting London this week and will report back, but I suspect Londoners would tell you the same.
A few centimetres here, a little temperature change there, and suddenly you have roads impassable, schools closed, and children overjoyed. It all adds up.
It’s the same in our work.
Your generosity over the Christmas break, kickstarted by a major gift to cover the lease cost of a warehouse in London as well as two successful matching campaigns, accumulated into a huge amount of support for the work we do, meaning many more vulnerable neighbours and the agencies they depend on are getting the help they need.
Your actions – whether giving, volunteering, or helping us spread the word – helped make Christmases merry and bright, and delivered hope during otherwise difficult moments.
Thank you for your continued partnership into 2026.
Travis Blackmore
Founder and CEO, Lionhearts
HQ News
It's Cold out there
The New Year is underway, and that means the countdown to Coldest Night of the Year is heating up!
On Saturday, February 28, we’ll be walking up to 5 kilometres to support those experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness in our community.
Register and sign up today!
Kingston
Ottawa
London
Kingston
Say Cheese
Between your Crazy Bread purchases, the rounding up of your pizza buys, and matching funds from franchisee Dave Lamont as well as the Rotary Club of Kingston, we raised $14,051.29 in support of the Student Food Box program!
Thank you to everyone who participated in our matching fundraiser in December at Little Caesars Kingston, on behalf of the 250 local families receiving this important support.
It's a match
Thank you to all who contributed to our matching fundraisers in December, as we were able to hit both goals.
A special thank you to Dr. Tony Ashworth and the anonymous donor who provided the matching gifts. Dr. Ashworth passed shortly after pledging the gift to us, and he named us as one of his favourite charities. We pass on our condolences to his wife and family, and our utmost appreciation for his life and legacy in our community.
Ottawa
Be Our Guest
Lettuce ask you a question - are you getting your daily greens?
Clients of the agencies we serve will be in the coming days, as we distribute these 12,096 heads of lettuce donated by Gen V via our friends at Second Harvest!
Thank you to Gen V for caring for our vulnerable neighbours!
A Sweet surprise
Just before Christmas, we received 29,000 pounds of chocolate donated by Lindt Canada via our friends at Second Harvest. The bulk of the donation was Lindor truffles. If you’re having trouble picturing 29,000 pounds of chocolate, consider this: each of those truffles weighs about 12.5 grams. That means there was something like 1.1 million pieces of chocolate in that delivery!
We were able to share these treats with many frontline agencies across the city. Thank you to our volunteers and all those who helped make this Christmas surprise possible.
London
A Million Reasons Why
They say the first million is the hardest...well, we recently passed $1 million in food and household goods recovered since our arrival in London! And all of it was shared with local, front-line agencies at no cost.
Thank you to the volunteers, donors, and partners who helped make this happen, and who are helping us continue to deliver hope into the New Year.
Open Up
We’ll be cutting the ribbon on our new London warehouse on January 23 at 11 a.m. In case you missed it, we received a donation in November that will cover the lease costs for two years!
Join us at
15385 Robin's Hill Road, Unit 1 next Friday. We look forward to seeing you there!
