Covenant House Vancouver

One of our original Rights of Passage (ROP) residents contacted us by email
6 years after his stay with us:

"I'm in Toronto, doing very well, finishing a double Honors at York University in English and Creative Writing. ROP had a significant impact on my life in that vulnerable time was I was 19 and into all sorts of trouble. Looking at your website now almost brought me to tears - strong memories, I guess."

After receiving an email like that, we got in touch with Mark and he agreed to be interviewed:

How did you find yourself at Covenant House?
(summarized from a telephone interview)

I moved out to Vancouver to get far away from Ontario - I had a bad highschool experience either dropping out or getting kicked out and I hated it. So I hitch-hiked out to Vancouver, stayed with a cousin for a while, then got a job at a supermarket but I was still living in a hostel and was floundering. I met someone who was applying to ROP and so I applied too.

What were your first impressions of ROP?

I felt like I would get a fresh start at ROP; it was very different, very strange from what I was used to. The other residents were great - unique in their own ways and I could relate to all of them in some way. There was a lot of caring and talk of community. I got my first adult hug at ROP from one of the other residents and I tell this story all the time: we had become friends and one day he just walked up and hugged me and I said "what are you doing?" and he said "giving you a hug". That blew me away.

How long did you stay at ROP?

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