Officials at My Sister's Place will have to wait a little longer to plead their case for $116,000 in funding from the city.
The funding cut appeal, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been pushed back.
Councillors previously denied the request to fund salaries for a leisure and lifeskills expert and a housing worker.
Overall, it costs about $500,000 to run My Sister's Place each year, 75% of which is donations.
"We've been open for ten years and we've seen our funding from the city being reduced gradually over the last five years. When this proposal was rejected by the city we felt we had to a public campaign because over 100 a women a day come through My Sister's Place, looking for various things and a hot meal, it's an important service," says CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association's Middlesex and London branch Don Seymour. "Five years ago, we were getting about $330,000 per year from the city, but by March 31 that funding will be reduced to $75,000. Every time we've been cut we've been able to increase our fundraising, but this time we just though we'd draw a line in the sand and appeal."
Sisters Matter is the public awareness and fundraising campaign launched by the organization.
The goal is to showcase how important it is that My Sister's Place remains open.
"If My Sister's Place doesn't exist it's going to cost our city a whole heck of a lot more dollars in terms of emergency services. It will cost our hospitals, it will cost police and our emergency services," Seymour tells BlackburnNews.com. "We do a lot of early intervention work with women who are homeless or marginalized. We are able to get women off the streets, into housing and into stable situations."
If the final push for funding is denied 87% of My Sister's Place's operating costs will rely on donations.
It is unclear when the two sides will meet again.
