Creating the First Véro & Louis Home

We’re home! All the residents are settled in to their home in Varennes. By now, our mission was all coming together. Through our individual approach, we want to provide residents with learning opportunities to help them develop their independence. We also want to create an approach that involves and engages everyone: residents, family members, workers and the community. Even knowing that we’ll face some obstacles along the way, the team was ready and prepared to keep learning for the well-being of every resident.

We assembled the team for the Véro & Louis Home based on our values, vision and objectives. With recruitment and hiring completed, we started looking forward to working together as a big, happy family!

It took five years of courting donors, fundraising activities and events, plan development, construction and furnishing to get there! The Véro & Louis Home in Varennes was finally ready. While we were excited about this big achievement, the most important was yet to come.

Designing this innovative project went beyond the structure, bricks, furnishing and layout of the outdoor space; the heart of our mission is to provide adapted permanent housing for individuals with autism.

We’re also including educational programming to support our future residents and help them develop their potential. Our goal is for them to comfortably settle in to their home and find well-being, support and respect for differences in this environment created with them in mind.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to this first step!

We won’t forget March 2020 anytime soon. All industries were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and for us, the Home’s construction, funding activities and the hiring of staff for the Home all suffered setbacks. At the end of April 2020, it was announced that construction activities would resume. Work on the house restarted.

The first Véro & Louis Home began taking shape on September 30, 2019! The walls had been built, the different spaces had been defined, the second floor was soon to come and the roof would be installed within two weeks. In other words, construction was well underway. This was an important milestone for the Véro & Louis Foundation and its partners.

We thank Pomerleau for their support in the construction process.

On August 8, 2018, the Government of Quebec announced annual funding of $1.2M over a ten-year period for the Véro & Louis Foundation to provide appropriate services to the 16 residents at the first Home in Varennes. This partnership is indispensable in ensuring the residents’ well-being.

On May 28, 2018, La Capitale Financial Group Foundation announced a $500,000 donation to the Véro & Louis Foundation. La Capitale Foundation, like the Véro & Louis Foundation, supports persons with autism spectrum disorder. La Capitale’s involvement helps make a real difference, both through its financial contribution for the creation of these facilities and as an impetus for other partnerships. La Capitale Foundation is proud to enter into a 5-year partnership with the Véro & Louis Foundation.

On April 24, 2018, Lowe’s Canada announced a partnership with the Véro & Louis Foundation where Lowe’s Canada pledged to support the Véro & Louis Foundation with $1.5 million dollars thus contributing to the housing cause for adults with ASD. In addition to this substantial financial donation, Lowe’s Canada will support the Foundation for the purchase of materials for the construction of the first three homes, while continuing to support the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Artists’ Garage Sale.

On April 5, 2016, Véronique Cloutier and Louis Morissette announced the creation of their Foundation to provide a home environment well suited to the needs of adults with ASD aged 21 and over. They learned about the cause while reading the bookDeux garçons à la mère, by Guylaine Guay.