The Community Services Recovery Fund was a $400 million investment from the Government of Canada to support charities and non-profits as they focus on how to adapt their organizations for pandemic recovery. 

Founded in 2020 in Alberta, the Broom Tree Foundation is a community-based organization providing refuge to women and their families, offering services from employment assistance to support for those fleeing domestic violence. 

The idea for the Broom Tree Foundation first came to founder Donna Abma around 20 years ago, when she was reading the Bible for the first time and learning about the prophet Elijah, who, resting under a broom tree after fleeing for his life, was met with an angel to “[face] what he [needed] to face,” Abma says. 

At the time, Abma herself was in need of that kind of support. “Everybody needs a broom tree,” she says. “Everybody needs a place where they can sit, and if they’re at the end of their rope, that’s OK. You just sit.”

The organization was launched by a group of women, determined to fill the gap in housing for women in need. “There was definitely a passion of working with and supporting women [going] through pregnancy and trauma,” Abma said. 

She adds that, during a difficult period of her own life, “I didn’t have the support of family or friends, and so I knew the loneliness and the desperation in that. I knew that we needed to fill that gap.”

Alberta sees an uptick in domestic violence during COVID-19

The Broom Tree Foundation was launched in January 2020, just three months before the pandemic hit. As COVID-19 lockdowns took effect, domestic violence rates surged across Canada, with many shelters seeing an uptick in crisis calls during the first year of the pandemic. A 2023 study showed that domestic violence and abuse had increased in frequency and severity over the previous year; of the survivors surveyed in shelters across Alberta, 57% reported that physical abuse had gotten worse. 

To help tackle these challenges, Broom Tree launched with three program pillars: its ‘Bridges’ program, helping its clients identify resources for everything from groceries and diapers to mentorship opportunities within Broom Tree. Second was its social enterprise cafe — located in downtown Lacombe — to employ women and help them build employment skills. Third was Broom Tree’s transitional housing program for women and their families experiencing homelessness. 

Starting out as a volunteer-run organization, Broom Tree serves over 400 women, not including their children. While the team was glad that they could help so many families, they quickly found themselves overwhelmed.

 “Really, the struggle was that we were just wearing all these hats,” says co-founder and program director, Tamara Noordhof. “I don’t want to say we were getting burnt out — because we love our work — but it [was] a challenge.”

The Broom Tree Foundation receives CSRF funding to grow their organization

That’s when Abma, Noordohf and the team came across the Community Services Recovery Fund: a $400 million investment from the Government of Canada to support charities and non-profits in pandemic recovery. 

Using the funding, the team was able to hire an agency to develop a three-to-five-year plan for the organization, outlining how to expand their pillar programs, such as making their social enterprise cafe zero-waste. 

“It helped vigorate what we all were doing, and it really helped us to hone in on a clear vision moving forward,” Noordohf said.

Looking to the future

Noordohf says that the next focus for Broom Tree is to hire a transitional housing coordinator to continue growing the organization. Additionally, the Broom Tree Foundation will start building capacity to tackle food security in the community. 

“Young moms and their kids are coming our way and just needing help with food,” Noordohf says. “That’s an easy thing that we can do, because we have such amazing partnerships and donors and even just donations of food that go into our cafe.”

She adds that Broom Tree’s increased capacity to work towards food security is due to receiving the CSRF funding.

 “It’s huge,” Noordohf says. “We’re helping a lot of homeless people, and a lot of people that are just hungry.”