Thousands already donated for upcoming London, Ont. homelessness plan

Thousands of dollars have already been raised for an upcoming plan that aims to bring a "permanent and sustainable system" to deal with homelessness in London, Ont. The

plan was announced last week by Mayor Josh Morgan during his first-ever State of the City Address. Attached to news of the plan was the unveiling of a $25 million donation

from a local family that wishes to remain anonymous. The anonymous family offered an additional $5 million for the upcoming plan, so long as community donations can match

that amount. An online fundraiser collecting money for the upcoming plan has been set up by the London Community Foundation (LCF) in the meantime. On Monday

morning, LCF's director of philanthropy Diana Silva told Global News more than 90 people had donated online for a total of $16,000. The number more-than-quadrupled by

Monday afternoon when Libro Credit Union announced in a media release that it had donated $50,000 to the cause. "This is clearly something so passionate and important (to

Londoners). You can just feel it, the community is totally engaged and fired up about this," Silva said. "It's beautiful to see where we're at and I can only imagine how

quickly we'll get to the $5 million." Silva added that the current fundraising total does reflect non-online options. Donors are allowed to send in larger gifts via cheques

or by donating privately-held securities.