A Day We Will Never Forget: Grassroots Receives FOUR National Housing Day Awards in One Year
- olgastrasburger
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
This Friday, November 21, 2025, something truly historic happened!
For the first time in the ten-year history of Waterloo Region’s National Housing Day Awards, one small volunteer organization and the people who make it possible walked away with four of the highest honours in a single morning.
Outstanding Community and Affordable Housing Provider of the Year 2025 – awarded to Grassroots Response to the Ukrainian Crisis
Sybil Frenette Visionary Housing Creator Award 2025 – awarded to our founder, Stephanie Goertz
Newcomer Landlord Award 2025 – awarded to Cory De Villiers (Hespeler Guest House)
Newcomer Landlord Award 2025 – awarded to Karen Martin (Woolwich Guest House)
Four awards. One year. One mission: to make sure no Ukrainian family fleeing war ever sleeps without a roof or a welcome.
Since the first bombs fell in February 2022, more than 5,600 Ukrainians have called one of our seven Guest Houses home—even if only for a few months. They arrived with almost nothing. They left with furniture, jobs, school registrations for their children, and, most importantly, the feeling that they belong.
None of this would exist without an army of quiet heroes:
the volunteers who paint walls at midnight,
the donors who keep the heat on,
the landlords like Cory and Karen, who opened their hearts and their properties,
and every single person who ever clicked “donate,” forwarded an email, or simply believed this work mattered.
As Stephanie said on stage today: “These awards belong to every volunteer, donor, and community partner who believed that strangers fleeing war deserved a real home. We are deeply grateful and even more motivated to keep our doors open and our hearts wide for every family still waiting for safety.”
We are humbled, grateful, and—honestly—a little stunned. But mostly we are energized. Because four awards in one morning tell us one unmistakable thing: what we are doing together is working.
And we are nowhere near finished.
Thank you for walking this road with us. Thank you for proving that ordinary people can create extraordinary change. Thank you for giving thousands of Ukrainians the most precious gift of all: a place to call home.
With overflowing hearts,
The entire Grassroots family 💙💛
Photos from this beautiful ceremony are coming soon—stay tuned.
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