Barrie's inaugural Hockey Helps the Homeless event last week has raised thousands of dollars.

United House is a place in Barrie, where women feel safe, and supported, all while starting over. There’s a long wait list for the transition home. More than 85 women are hoping to get into one of the five units.

“They're fleeing domestic violence situations, so they can stay here for a year less a day, while they heal and get their feet back on the ground and figure out what they want to do,”  Timothy Kent, executive director at United House.

The home is a project of Redwood Park Communities, a local charity that relies on donations to help those who are homeless.

“They feel so comfortable as time progresses, they start to almost come alive,” says volunteer Erin Hatton. “It's really awesome to see that. To see how excited they are to have their own space.”

The not-for-profit organization is about to get a big boost to the tune of $41,000 from the Hockey Helps the Homeless fundraiser.

“This is huge, because really, this one tournament has raised more money than we've raised in the last two years,” says Kent. “So it really helps to solidify our financial situation, and our financial footing and it allows us to be able to use the money directly to put people into housing.”

In total, $82,000 was raised through the charity hockey tournament last week. Half the money is going to Redwood Park Communities, the other half to the David Busby Street Centre.  Their plan is to build a medical room

 “We have a lot of visiting medical practitioners, we have some local doctors that come in to help out,” says Sara Peddle, executive director of Busby Centre. “So it's more around that type of room, so that it's sterile and making sure they've got accessibility to water and stuff.”

Right now staff at the Busby Centre sees about 50 people a day, people who need food, shelter and support .

As for when the money will be handed out, the two charities should receive cheques of $41,000 by my mid-April.