October, 2026

Yes, it’s true !  JHS Sudbury is 65 years old this year !!

We celebrate our 65th anniversary in 2026 and we are definitely not retiring !  We have new signage and a new logo.   Our staff and board are quite excited !

Watch for our announcement of our open house in the next few weeks !

Thinking about 2027 already  ?

The JHS is !!

Our inmate art calendars for 2027  are now ready !   This year the price  remains at $20.00 per calendar.  All net proceeds go to the services provided by our JHS volunteers.  Pick one up at the JHS office in Sudbury or at the Sun Life office in North Bay.

Support Sudbury Food Bank and get a free pumpkin

Sudbury.com Staff    Oct 5, 2026 5:00 PM

The Val Caron branch of BrokerUnion, an insurance firm, officially launches the food drive on Oct. 6. The drive will run for the month of October to gather non-perishable food items. Those who donate can bring home a free pumpkin (120 pumpkins will be available while supplied last).

“Our food drive will run throughout the entire month of October, with 120 pumpkins available while quantities last,” said Val Caron BrokerUnion branch manager Kevin Staron in a news release. “We would also like to thank our partners; Leisure Farms in Sturgeon Falls as well as Honey Dew Farm in Massey for donating the pumpkins to ensure our food drive is successful.”

Natalie Labbée, Sudbury Food Bank executive director, highlighted how food drives help ensure Sudburians do not go hungry. “We are so grateful to BrokerUnion for choosing to support the Sudbury Food Bank and for recognizing the importance of keeping our shelves stocked as we head into the fall and holiday season,” Labbée said in the release.

To take part in the drive and get a pumpkin, drop off non-persishable food items to BrokerUnion Val Caron, 2924 Old Hwy 69 N Unit 6. Pumpkins are available while supplies last.

The John Howard Society commends these local efforts by our community members.  Many of our clients rely on food banks for the necessities of life.  Many thanks to Brokerunion and their staff !

Thank you Delta Bingo and Gaming  !!

The board and staff of the John Howard Society sincerely appreciates the tremendous community engagement of Delta Bingo and Gaming.  With their support and the work of the JHS volunteers at Delta Bingo and Gaming over $69,000.00 was raised in the past fiscal year.  The funds are used to support the essential needs of our clients such as emergency food and clothing and programs at the Sudbury Jail.  Without Delta’s unwavering support these services would be difficult to maintain.  Bruno, our JHS mascot was on hand to show his support and thanks !

We need books  !!

It’s the summer and because of vacations we are not receiving our usual donations of paperback books and magazines.  If you have some you can donate to for our librray work at the Sudbury Jail please call us at 705.673.9576.   We cannot accept hardcover books, explicit novels or romance novels due to custody restrictions.  Many thanks everyone !

On the front line: Sudbury’s Homelessness Network marks 20th year

by Tyler Clarke. He covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.

 Sudbury Homelessness Network key partner leaders gather for a photo during a 20th anniversary celebration on Oct. 2. From left is John Howard Society of Sudbury CEO Sara Berghammer, N’Swakamok Friendship Centre executive director Marie Meawasige, Elizabeth Fry Society CEO Amy Collins and Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury CEO Denis Constantineau. Tyler Clarke / Sudbury.com

Sudbury’s Homelessness Network marked its 20th anniversary with a gathering of front-line workers and politicians on Oct. 2, celebrating accomplishments and ongoing advocacy.

In its 20 years, they report having helped house approximately 1,000 people, and notched a daily average of 166 contacts per day and 1,098 items handed out per week last year.

Each contact with someone experiencing homelessness “creates opportunities to build trust and connect people with services,” Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury CEO Denis Constantineau told the Oct. 2 gathering.

His organization is one of five to combine efforts 20 years ago to form the Homelessness Network. These five organizations include:

• Association des jeunes de la rue – Community Outreach
  • Provides street and shelter outreach
• Centre de santé communautaire du Grand Sudbury
  • Provides Central Intake, case management and coordination of the Homelessness Network.
• Elizabeth Fry Society Northeastern Ontario
• John Howard Society of Sudbury
  • Provides Central Intake and intensive case management.
• N’Swakamok Friendship Centre
  • Provides case management

“Each partner brings its own expertise, relationships and knowledge of the community,” Constantineau said, adding that their co-ordinated response has been “stronger than any one organization can provide on its own.”

The organization has adopted a housing first approach since 2016, which Constantineau described as eliminating people’s first big barrier, housing, to “a foundation,” after which they can help address everything else that follows.

Outreach partners work 15 hours per day, seven days a week, 365 days per year, he said, and consider homelessness as a person’s situation and not something that defines a person.

As Constantineau noted during his remarks, homelessness remains “a significant challenge” in Greater Sudbury, and their work is not finished.

For more on the Homelessness Network, visit their website, homelessnessnetwork.ca.

United Way of North East Ontario

Champion of the Month

Bay Used Books

For almost 5 decades Bay Used Books has been providing affordable books to readers in Northern Ontario. They are first and foremost a brick and mortar store with over a half million books located on 2 floors that span over 4000 square feet of space. Bay Used Books donates many books to the JHS for our work in coordinating the library at the Sudbury Jail.  Without their support many inmates would not have any reading material !

Thank you to this special group of staff and volunteers for your ongoing dedication to our community.  You are our Champion of the Month !

Delta Bingo and Gaming helps fund over 160 local organizations in Greater Sudbury.  We are excited to share the latest round of Charitable Gaming social media graphics with you, available in both English and French!  This creative aligns with the new Out-of-Home (OOH) campaign, which you’ll also see across Ontario on billboards, transit, DriveTest centres, Cineplex, and more. There is an an advertisement running at the corner of Lasalle Blvd and Notre Dame.

Welcome to JHS Sudbury

The John Howard Society believes in effective, just and humane responses to crime and its causes.  We are dedicated to creating genuinely safer communities by helping to foster a truly effective criminal justice system. The John Howard Society helps people reintegrate into society, thereby reducing alienation, crime and recidivism.

Our mission is resolute. We want to help to create a truly effective criminal justice system – one that serves us all, that confronts crime and its causes and that fosters safer communities.  In short, we help people turn away from a life of crime. Surely, that’s what we’d all like to see.

Practically speaking, we STOP Crime Now ! ^TM through the multitude of programs and services that we offer to the community.  You can help us to STOP Crime Now ! ^TM through your donation to the John Howard Society of Sudbury.  All funds raised are used to deliver our programs and services in the Sudbury and North Bay communities.   STOP Crime Now ! ^TM is a registered trademark of the John Howard Society of Sudbury.

We are proud to commemorate Prisoners Justice Day every year.  It is a day where we remember the violence within the walls of incarceration and the men and women who have died because of this violence while incarcerated.  In 2026 the commemoration will be on August 10 at 10:00 am on the front lawn of the John Howard Society.  For more information please go to the Prisoners Justice Day page on our website.

(NEW!) The John Howard Society assists people with criminal records to apply for a record suspension, formerly known as a pardon.  It is a lengthy process and can take up to two years.  If you would like more information contact the John Howard Society as soon as possible.

Some of our funders include the following and we are truly appreciative of their support.  Given that the vast majority of Canadians claim to give to charities but just less than 25% of Canadians claim their charitable donations on their tax return, you may want to make sure you know the benefits!  Your donations are important !  Please remember us.

To easily calculate the tax savings for a donation of any amount, use https://www.canadahelps.org/taxtime/.

For information on how our programs and services can be accessed in French contact the John Howard Society of Sudbury at the references located on our contact page.  Those programs and services that are available in French are noted with an (F) in the title of each service or program.  The John Howard Society is an inclusive agency serving all people in our community.  We have posted the Pride progress Flag on our website as a symbol that everyone is welcome to enter our agency for service.

Vianet is a proud supporter of the John Howard Society and the great work that we do all across Ontario to provide effective, just, and humane responses to crime and its causes. Vianet supports and helps in creating safer communities and to STOP Crime Now!

Follow us on Instagram at johnhowardsudbury or #jhssudbury.

June is National Indigenous History Month.  For more information please go to our Events page.