Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough hosts multiple annual events that raise awareness, build community, and support vital programs for individuals impacted by criminalization, trauma, poverty, and gender-based violence.
A Home of Our Own Campaign
Through our work operating the Bridge Modular Housing Program, we identified a critical gap in our community: the need for transitional and supportive housing for individuals moving beyond initial stabilization. While modular housing offers a first step out of homelessness, many residents require continued support to successfully transition to long-term, independent housing.
Our goal is to purchase a residential property to expand our housing continuum. This home will provide safe, fully staffed, transitional housing for people leaving incarceration, modular housing, or homelessness. People who would benefit from continued support in rebuilding their lives.
Residents will receive wraparound services, including case management, life skills training, housing navigation, and mental health and addiction support. This property will be a launchpad for long-term stability, offering low-barrier, trauma-informed care in a healing environment.
With your support, we can fill a vital housing gap in Peterborough, reduce recidivism, and create real, lasting change for some of the most marginalized members of our community.
For a complete overview of the campaign, check out our Campaign Booklet
To learn more about how you can support our goal
Rebel With A Cause
Justice & Mental Health | October 28, 2026
Every year, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough brings our community together for Rebel with a Cause, an evening dedicated to celebrating outstanding local individuals and organizations who demonstrate advocacy and action to address criminalization, challenge inequities within the criminal justice system, and advance gender equality.
Through their work, these Rebels remind us that meaningful change happens when people speak up, challenge the status quo, and take action to build a more just and equitable community.
On October 28, 2026, we welcomed a full house for an incredible evening centred on this year’s theme: Justice & Mental Health.
We were honoured to recognize and celebrate four Rebels whose work reflects the importance of compassion, advocacy, and meaningful change. From supporting people navigating mental health and substance use challenges, to standing alongside survivors of violence and creating more inclusive communities, this year’s Rebels demonstrate the many ways people can make a difference.
This year’s celebration brought together community members, local artists, performers, supporters, and friends of EFry for a night filled with music, creativity, connection, and a little Halloween magic.
Our guests enjoyed:
- Live Music: Performances by local favourite Joslynn Burford and the wonderful duo Cheyenne Burnett and Sarah van den Berg.
- Traditional Indigenous Hand Drumming: A special performance by Naandewegaan – Healing with Drums, a multi-generational Indigenous women’s traditional hand drumming quartet.
- Featured Artwork: Unique creations by Makayla of Stones N Bones, incorporating insects, animal bones and skulls, foraged natural materials, and repurposed vintage items.
- Event Photography: Wayne Ferguson captured the special moments and energy of the evening.
- Food, Fun & Community: Delicious food, a trick-or-treat candy bar, tarot readings, local artwork, and a silent auction featuring generous donations from local businesses and community members.
Most importantly, the evening gave us an opportunity to come together, celebrate the people doing meaningful work, and recognize the power of community.
An event like this takes a village, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make Rebel with a Cause 2026 such a success.
Thank you to our Rebels, sponsors, community partners, local businesses, donors, performers, artists, photographer, staff, volunteers, and everyone who attended. Your generosity, creativity, and support made the evening possible.
Most importantly, thank you for believing in the work of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough. Your support helps us continue providing programs and services to people experiencing barriers related to housing, mental health, criminalization, and gender-based violence.
About Rebel with a Cause
Rebel with a Cause is the Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough’s annual community celebration and fundraiser. Each year, we recognize individuals and organizations who are challenging systems, advocating for others, and taking action to create positive change.
We believe that justice is about more than the criminal justice system. It is about dignity, equity, opportunity, and ensuring that people have access to the support and resources they need to thrive.
Through this annual event, we celebrate the people who are putting those beliefs into action while raising funds to support EFry’s programs and services in our community.
Here’s to the Rebels, the changemakers, and the community that makes it all possible.
Anti-Stigma Day
Our annual event marked by the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime as “International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking”, supporting the War on Drugs through social media campaigns, information, etc. Our Anti-Stigma Day is held on the same day to reduce the stigmatization experienced by our peers who use substances.
June 26th, 1pm-4pm at Millennium Park
International Overdose Awareness Day
In partnership with PARN, International Overdose Awareness day is a day to remember the lives lost to overdose, to stand with the families and friends who carry that grief, and to renew our commitment to ending overdose and the harms that come with it. It’s a powerful reminder that every life matters and that we must keep working toward safety, dignity, and support for everyone in our community.
August 31st, 1pm-4pm at Millennium Park
This year’s event has been moved to Wednesday September 16th 2026, 1pm-4pm at Millennium Park
Take Back The Night
Each year, we join the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre (KSAC) and community partners for an evening dedicated to raising awareness about sexual violence, supporting survivors, and standing together for safer communities. The event brings people together through poetry, speakers, performance, and a candle-lit solidarity march, creating space to listen, remember, support, and take action.
September 17th, 2026, from 5pm-9pm at Peterborough Square Courtyard