Yellow Brick House

Yellow Brick House is a place for abused women and children. In your neighbourhood and across our community, we are here 24 hours a day, 7 days providing help and hope to women and children.

Right now, and every single day, there are families here rebuilding their lives. Every woman’s story with Yellow Brick House begins with the courage to leave a dangerous—even deadly—home. They share stories of terror, despair, and tears. But the real story of Yellow Brick House is about empowering women and children to rebuild their lives and we give a voice to the untold stories of violence in our community, raising awareness about the need for change, and moving our community forward to end of violence against women and kids.

Every day, we are operating at capacity. And, while heartbreaking, we cannot accommodate hundreds of families every year.

Our Story

In the early days of 1978, 5 restless people—3 social workers, a nurse and a Probation Officer—started sharing their stories. Over and over, women were whispering their desperation, pleading for help. At meetings and in the community they would murmur in agreement, “it’s so frustrating to see this over and over, we’ve got to be able to do more.”

And the idea of a safe place was born. Frustration turned to hope and determination. They met at each other’s kitchen tables, hungry for change and insisting on collaborative action. A few short years later, a yellow brick house went up for sale in the community.

Dr. Crawford Rose was a family doctor in the 1950s and 60s. His clinic was attached to his home, a simple brick house. Neighbours knew they could knock on the clinic door—or the front door—to receive help and support. Seeing a police car in the driveway was not a cause for concern, but rather recognition that Dr. Rose was seeing any patient that needed him.

Years later, Dr. Rose’s son, Dr. Clayton and his wife Helen Rose bought the family home, and he and his wife raised their children there. When they heard about the need, they were delighted to sell their home to make sure their yellow brick house would continue to be a place of caring, hope and love.

24 hours before our doors opened

Imagine being there in the 24 hours before we opened our doors to women and children in crisis. Passionate and dedicated friends and neighbours joined together to paint, clean and gather together furniture, appliances, books, toys, clothes and whatever they could to make this old yellow brick house a home.

And while you and I may not have been there in those 24 hours before the doors opened, we are here today, holding and nurturing those same values, and keeping that same spirit alive at Yellow Brick House.

We cherish the gifts of every single one of our amazing supporters, and we know that you share the same core values upon which we were founded and still operate to this day: values of equality, justice, safety, and compassion.