This story is made possible through the support of Housser's Paint and Wallpaper as part of OrilliaMatters' Community Leaders Program
Information Orillia (IO) has a long and storied history in the City of Orillia, having been established in 1969, and according to new Executive Director Tammera Seyffer, it has only become better at fulfilling its mandate.
“When I started in March 2024, I did a thorough audit of all of the services that IO was offering, and discovered that it was very good at what it's doing,” explained Seyffer. “It just needed to become more streamlined, digitized, and more efficient, and that's what I've been putting into place since then.”
Information Orillia now has a new name, Information Orillia: Accessible Advocacy Centre, but it still has the same mandate: to connect those who are unattached to the community, to the community, through an intricate system of referrals and partnerships, according to Seyffer.
IO serves the City of Orillia and the surrounding townships of Ramara, Severn, and Oro-Medonte, as well as the independent Rama (or Mnjikaning) Reserve.
“We help those who are under or at the poverty level and are in need of services, as well as newcomers,” she explained. “Those services could be a mail drop, getting ID, getting a health card, navigating government systems, housing, food, mental or physical health supports, help filing their taxes and getting the funding they are entitled to…and a lot of other supports.”
Information Orillia does all of the above, despite Seyffer being the only paid staff member.
“We have incredible partnerships with all of the advocacy centres in Orillia, including The Lighthouse, Green Haven, North Simcoe Victim Services, The Sharing Place, Agilec, the CDC, Orillia Public Library, the OPP, City of Orillia, the Good Food Box, Hospice Orillia, and more.”
In addition, IO has partnerships with CTSccc (Barrie Campus)- Addiction & Mental Health, Office Assistant, and Law Clerk programs; Georgian College (Orillia Campus) - Social Service Worker Program; and Lakehead University (Orillia Campus) - Media Program.
“We obtain placement students from those programs, as well as volunteers, and these students, combined with many more volunteers from the community, are the people who provide the help and support to our clients,” said Seyffer.
“We also have supports here in 9 to 12 different languages, for newcomers to our community.”
“We call our program the community attachment program,” explained Seyffer. “Our clients are not attached to the community, this is why they are struggling and need help. We help them by attaching them to the supports available in the community, so they can succeed.”
Clients are able to obtain ID, gain computer skills, get mental help support, get funding, obtain office and customer service skills and more, in a supportive environment that gives them the tools they need to succeed.
A large part of Information Orillia’s services is the annual free Income Tax Clinic, which utilizes volunteers to fill out clients’ personal income taxes, making sure their filing is up to date.
“Our tax clinics are governed by a retired Certified General Accountant and all of our auditors go through the CRA training,” said Seyffer. “We are currently looking for eight more auditors so we can take care of the upwards of 1800 clients who need this service.”
Information Orillia: Accessibility Advocacy Centre is looking towards a bright future of helping everyone who needs help in our community.
Seyffer ended, “We have accepted 300 more clients since June. We are seeing them succeed and become part of the community, day by day. The future is bright!”
To volunteer at Information Orillia or for more information, contact Seyffer at [email protected].
