Relieving stress at tax time: Spotlighting the tax clinic at Hope House Guelph CFC
April 8, 2026
Rainbow Chow with tax clinic client Claire.
It’s tax season—and for many people, filing income taxes is stressful. But in Guelph, Ontario, the Community Food Centre (CFC) supports people to file their taxes. At Hope House Guelph CFC, the free tax clinic relieves the stress of tax filing. And for people on low incomes, this vital service can significantly boost their income by giving access to tax benefits.
The clinic was established in 2018, filing 53 tax returns that year. Demand has grown since. Last year, the clinic helped 1,429 people access a staggering $5.4 million in tax refunds and benefits.
Rainbow Chow, Tax and Benefit Coordinator, runs the clinic. She files taxes, educates and encourages clients, and manages a growing team of 13 volunteers. They include seven volunteers who are new in 2026, as well as the clinic’s founder, Sue Morris.
In 2023, Rainbow herself joined this team. A newcomer to Canada, she wanted to learn how to file her own taxes and help others to file theirs.
Her motivation for doing her job? “I see people feeling happy,” she says. “The client can get their money back and their taxes done. The relief is on their face.”
Some people face extra barriers to filing their taxes
Rainbow sees firsthand the extra barriers that discourage some groups of people from filing their taxes. Unhoused people may lack a mailing address to receive Canada Revenue Agency letters. Filing taxes can also create extra anxiety and stress for people with mental health challenges.
For people on low incomes, the consequences of filing late are especially high. On one exceptional occasion, Rainbow even paid a bedside visit to a hospital. There, she helped a community member who had fallen behind on filing their taxes. With many government income supports being tied to filing taxes on time, this person was at risk of losing their housing benefits.
Last year, Alex visited the clinic. Now 25, her teen years had been tough. “I was struggling with severe mental health issues, and I was couchhopping and was occasionally unhoused,” she says. She hadn’t filed multiple years of taxes and feared she had a tax debt.
Together, Rainbow and Alex filed taxes for all the outstanding years. “Rainbow was very kind and non-judgmental,” Alex recalls. “It was quick, it was easy. I learned that you don’t have to be ashamed of not knowing something you think you’re supposed to know.”
“
I see people feeling happy. The client can get their money back and their taxes done. The relief is on their face.
”
Rainbow Chow, Tax and Benefit Coordinator
A grant has allowed the clinic to expand
Last October, Prosper Canada awarded the CFC $264,000 over three years to support the clinic. This was more than a threefold increase to the clinic’s budget. The grant has enabled the clinic to run year-round. The CFC has also been able to partner with social service agencies to run the clinic at their sites.
Jaya James, the CFC’s Executive Director, says the grant is a game-changer for a service that’s growing in importance. The CFC’s food programming helps people connect to the community, and Jaya predicts that the tax clinic will become the secondary way that people connect to the community. “Through the clinic, people will find that this is a place where they belong and have something they can contribute. Rainbow herself was a volunteer. She was new to Canada and wanted to make some connections with people. And here we are, three years later, and she’s running the program. That is a beautiful thing.”
