A list of organizations providing support and resources to community resources to children and parents in Prince Edward County.

Government services

Children’s Mental Health Services offer a range of in-home, residential, and community-based services for children and their families in Prince Edward County.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health offers free in-person and online prenatal education programs.

Health Care Connect helps individuals find a family doctor.

The Prince Edward Family Health Team’s Maternal Infant Child Program offers prenatal programs, child health programs, youth health programs, and breastfeeding support services. 

Prince Edward – Lennox & Addington Social Services (PELASS) helps parents find licensed child care and financial support to access child care, and apply for subsidized housing (among other services).

Highland Shores is the local Children’s Aid Society for Prince Edward County.

Community organizations

Alliance Youth Services provides specialized foster care and intensive supported living programs, and psychological and support services to children, youth, adults, and families across Ontario. It has an office in Belleville.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hastings and Prince Edward Counties offers one-on-one, group, and online mentoring programs for local youth aged 6-16 years.

The Canadian Tire Jumpstart Foundation provides grants covering registration and equipment costs associated with a sport or physical activity.

The Children’s Foundation offers a variety of programs, including: Helping Hands Prenatal Program for mothers in need, Playing for Keeps which offers financial assistance for children’s extracurricular activities, and Camps of Hope which provides financial help with camp registration fees. 

The Hastings and Prince Edward Learning Foundation offers student nutrition and emergency assistance programs (including the Good Backpack Program and Food for Home) through local schools.

The Community Advocacy & Legal Centre (CALC) provides legal help to residents of Prince Edward County. It has a main office in Belleville, and a satellite office (by appointment only) in Picton. 

The H.O.P.E Centre (located at 46 King St in Picton) serves free volunteer-made community meals at 6 p.m. on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. Vegetarian options are available.

The Hub Child & Family Centre runs two programs offering boxes of low-priced goods to local families – the weekly Good Baby Box (diapers, formula, baby food) and the monthly Good Food Box (fruits and vegetables). Pick-up is at the Rick Hotston Centre in Picton. Please contact the Hub for more information. 

Keep Kids Warm’s Adopt-A-Child Program assists low-income working families and those on assistance with new winter outerwear.

The Matt Stever Fund, administered by the Rotary Club of Picton, was created to assist families in Prince Edward County who suffer hardship due to family crisis specifically, but not limited to, hardship caused by the severe illness, accident or death of a child.

Picton Community Gardens (in Delhi Park, Picton) is the County’s first community garden.

The Picton United Church County Food Bank operates every Friday morning from 9-11:30 out of the Picton United Church (12 Chapel St, Picton).

The annual Christmas Angel Tree Program, run in partnership with the Children’s Foundation (the charitable arm of the Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society), delivers donations of food, clothing, and toys to local families in need. The campaign launches in November, and gifts are delivered in mid December.

Pet owners in short-term financial crises can turn to the PEC Pet Food Bank; each client can access assistance once per month. The Pet Food Bank accepts donations of pet food and supplies and can issue tax receipts for financial donations.

The Prince Edward County Public Library offers a wonderful array of child and youth friendly activities and events, from storytimes, coding classes, and maker clubs to free play spaces, musical instrument lending, and special programs on PA Days and school holidays. The Picton Branch also hosts the County’s weekly LGBTQ+ Youth Drop-In.

Quinte Midwives is based in Belleville, and provides midwife services in the area. Their Resources page lists doulas, pre- and post-natal massage therapists, and other local practitioners serving pregnant and post-partum mothers.

Raising a Village Quinte runs a Facebook group to help connect local families in need with items for their infants and children (0-16 years of age). Members can post items they are donating or looking for.

Reaching for Rainbows is an after school mentoring and empowerment program for girls aged 6-9 years old. Participants attend 2 days per week. The program takes place at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Picton. 

Recreation Outreach Centre (ROC) and the Prince Edward County Youth Centre operate a variety of free outreach programs in the Picton area. Examples include ClubROC, a weekly after school program for kids in Grades 1-6, lunchtime programs at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute (PECI) for kids in Grades 7-12, and separate drop-in after school programs for kids in Grades 7-8 and 9-12 at their Centre on Main Street.

The Salvation Army Community Church in Picton runs an emergency case-by-case food bank program. 

The Storehouse Foodbank in Wellington offers foodbank and other community support services. It is located at the Wellington Pentecostal Church (304 Niles St, Wellington). 

The Three Oaks Foundation offers a variety of services (including a shelter located in Belleville) to victims of domestic violence and their children. 

You can find an overview of food resources in Hastings & Prince Edward Counties here on the Learning Foundation website.

Online support/community groups and blogs

• Babeez n arms: Mom & Baby Group in PE County – A Facebook group for the “Babeez’NArms Mom and Baby Group held every Monday in Wellington for new babes + their mommies”.
• Babysitters, daycare providers, and more for Prince Edward County – A Facebook group “designed to help parents find babysitters, daycare providers and after school activities in our community”.
• Exceptional Minds Quinte is a blog highlighting autism resources in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties.
• Human Milk 4 Human Babies – Eastern Ontario offers “a space where families in need can connect with women who have milk to share”.
• Quinte Area Milk Sharing/Wet Nurse Moms – A local Facebook group for “moms willing to donate milk or moms looking to receive donor milk”.
• Prince Edward County Home Learners – A Facebook group aiming to “help home learning families in the County connect with each other and to share events, resources and ideas”.
• PEC Mama’s – A private Facebook group described as “Local Prince Edward County Mom’s supporting one another”.
• County Kids – A Facebook group for Prince Edward County parents for sharing family-friendly County tips, ask and answer kid-related questions, and more.

Safety 

The Prince Edward Fitness & Aquatic Centre (PEFAC) offers a Home Alone Course for kids aged 10 and up. 

Be Prepared (located at 213A Front St in Belleville) offers various safety courses for kids, including a Home Alone Course, Babysitting Course, and First Aid for Kids Course, as well as First Aid and CPR courses for adults.

Entrepreneurship and job training

The Prince Edward Fitness & Aquatic Centre (PEFAC) offers a 7-hour Babysitting Course for kids aged 11 and up.

The Recreation Outreach Centre (ROC) connects local youth to opportunities in the areas of leadership development, volunteerism, and entrepreneurship.

Summer Company is a summer season business incubator program for local youth aged 15-19 years old.

Kindly let me know of any errors or omissions at andrea@pecparents.ca. Thank you!