There are many charities in Moncton and the surrounding area. You’ve probably heard some of their names, but may not know exactly what they do. Each week, we’ll highlight a different organization, sharing who they are and the work they do. We’ll also let you know about any upcoming events where you can learn more or get involved.
Charity of the Week: Moncton Headstart
Most of the systems we fund as a society show up after something has gone wrong: child protection, emergency rooms, courts, remedial classrooms. Moncton Headstart works before that point.
For more than 50 years, Moncton Headstart has worked with Moncton’s most vulnerable young children and their parents, families facing poverty, isolation, and trauma, during the years when it matters most. A child’s brain does most of its foundational growth before age five. What happens in those years shapes how they learn, how they form relationships, and how healthy they are for the rest of their lives. Reaching a family then costs far less than responding to the consequences later.
Long-term studies show high-quality early intervention returns $7 or more for every dollar invested, through reduced costs in justice, special education, and social assistance, and higher lifetime earnings. The reason is simple: problems that start early compound. A child who arrives at school behind is more likely to be held back, to leave school early, to struggle to find work, and to come into contact with the justice system. Each of those outcomes carries a public cost, and each is harder and more expensive to fix the longer it goes. Intervening in the first years changes that path before it sets.
That’s the work. We don’t wait for a crisis. We step in early, with the child and the parent together.
Families come to us by referral, often from social workers, physicians, and other professionals who recognize a family needs more than one service can offer. Here, children attend a therapeutic early learning program while their parents build skills, confidence, and connection in a setting where they are supported, not judged. When a parent becomes steadier, the child becomes safer. When a family is housed, everything else becomes possible, which is why we also run Future Horizons Housing, a transitional housing program.
We are the only centre of our kind in Atlantic Canada.
Moncton Headstart was founded in 1974 by the late Claudette Bradshaw, who started with free daycare for a handful of children from low-income families. She soon realized that helping the child meant helping the whole family. That two-generation approach still defines us today.
Get involved: Toyland
Each year, Toyland lets parents choose new gifts for their children, from newborns to age 19, with dignity. Last year, it reached 1,332 children. Appointments open in late November, and eligible families are served in the first two weeks of December. Toyland is staffed by volunteers and runs entirely on community donations of money and new, unwrapped toys and gifts.
Donate: monctonheadstart.com/donate
A gift to Moncton Headstart reaches a child before the harm, not after it.
Contact us
Phone: (506) 858-8252
Email: office@monctonheadstart.com
Instagram: @monctonheadstartinc
Facebook: facebook.com/MonctonHeadstartInc
Support this worthy cause!
