Thank you very much for that question. Absolutely, these are the amazing inspirational stories that I've been hearing all across the country in every corner, of how people have stepped up to support each other, especially seniors. They are very grateful that the government also stepped up, enhancing the funding.
The new horizons for seniors program had already launched in January. When the pandemic hit, we allowed organizations to change their programming very quickly. Whereas before they would have brought people together in a facility, now they had to try to find a way to support them in their own homes and virtually, and that is exactly what happened. That happened because we allowed them to transform their programs and to use the money in another way.
We also enhanced the program with another $20 million, in addition to the money this year, to provide 5,000 projects that have been supporting seniors from coast to coast to coast in urban, rural and remote areas. This is something I'm especially proud of. The government did recognize very early where the challenges were. They were listening to the groups and found a way, through enhanced funding and changes in the program, to get those organizations to step up and support seniors across the country.
Thank you very much for that. I've heard really inspirational stories. We didn't just do it with new horizons. We did it with funding through the United Way. We did it through emergency community support funding. There was half a billion dollars provided to community support organizations to help vulnerable Canadians across Canada. We should feel very proud of the work that's been done. I'm certainly proud of the organizations that have stepped up to offer those services.