Covenant House Vancouver

Each Christmas Covenant House Vancouver is blessed to receive phone calls and letters from donors, volunteers, and people in the community for our youth and staff. I wanted to share with you just a few of the many notes and cards we got this season that were filled with kind words and messages of hope for our young people.

 
“I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your very caring work. It is wonderful to know that you have given a group of many needy children your love and caring.”

“Thank you for your continued care and support of youth. Our son, who spent some time at Covenant House, is graduating this spring as a doctor.”

“To all the precious youth who have been fortunate enough to have found love and hope at your house-to all who care for the youth. My prayers go to each one of you.”

“Dear Covenant House. I hope the children get a family.” A picture and note from a very young friend.

All of us at Covenant House Vancouver want to wish you and yours a happy and safe new year and
we want to thank you for all your support and friendship in 2010!

See you in 2011!

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Please note that if you are wanting to make a donation for the 2010 tax year you can visit our donation page on our website and if you make a donation before 12:00am on December 31 you will immediately get a tax receipt for 2010.

You may also call us at 604-638-4438(GIFT) until the late afternoon of December 31, 2010 to make a donation over phone. If you don't reach us please leave us a message and we will call you back on January 4th 2010.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

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The documentary “Most Livable City” directed by Fiona Rayher & Daanish Ali looks at the importance of access to fresh, clean water including those who live on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The film premiered at Vancity Theatre as a part of a BC Civil Liberties Association event, and it also played at the Carnegie Centre.

I was really impressed with this film and the questions it asks and I wanted to share it with all of you. Having worked with homeless youth I know how hard it can be for them to find water especially late at night. When I used to work the overnight shift at our Crisis Shelter many youth would come by for some water, a snack and a chat.

I hope you take time the time to watch this thoughtful documentary and share it with your friends.

Most Livable City from Pull Focus Films on Vimeo.

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Helping our youth to reconnect with family (if it is safe and appropriate to do so) is an important value at Covenant House.   We had a youth in house who had been doing everything in her power to regain custody of her son.  She had got herself on Income Assistance and had been looking for full-time employment. 

She went to court to give them permission to randomly test her for narcotics and do regular check-ups on her.  She was given permission to see her son when he’s at her Grandmother’s place on the weekends.  We supplied her with bus tickets and overnight visits here and there so that she could spend quality time with her son, encouraging it every step of the way. She connected with different family members and asked them to buy presents for her son, rather than for herself. 

When she was preparing her gifts for her son (we are fortunate that we receive donations from the community that our youth can use as Christmas presents for their families), she was paying special attention to the little details like bow and ribbon placement, you could see just how proud of herself she was for being able to spoil her son a little bit over the holidays.  Whenever somebody joined her to see what she was up to, she jumped at the chance to show pictures of her son and share just how much he means to her.  It was amazing to watch her strive for a better life, not just for herself, but for her son as well.  I was sure to let her know just how lucky her son was to have such a caring Mom.  She thanked me for giving her a place to work on becoming a better Mom.  What an awesome night!

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Last Saturday volunteers worked an assembly line of donated goods and packed 300 backpacks full of goodies for distribution to our youth this Christmas.  Thank you so much to everyone (schools, families, church groups, companies etc.) for all the wonderful donations.  You may be pleased to know that much of what we receive at Christmas sustains us well into the new year.  For a list of items we are always grateful to receive, please click here.

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One young woman we have been helping, Elsie, has been working on her budgeting skills.  One of her struggles is that she has a burning need to spend any and all money as soon as she gets her hands on it.  Her weakness is clothing!  The other day she requested that she be given the “go ahead” to spend some cash on clothes.  We sat down to discuss her weekly budget.

We reminded her that Christmas was coming up and asked her if there was anyone in particular that she would want to buy gifts for.  Elsie has mentioned in the past that she has a twin brother (and his family) that she is close to.  With tears in her eyes, she said that no one, not even her brother, has called her in a long time, so she wouldn’t need to be buying presents.  She got really quiet and the tears started rolling down her face.  With a whimper, she whispered, “I don’t want to be alone this Christmas”. 

We reassured her that she is not alone and that her brother certainly loves her and is maybe just unable to reach her.  She continued to cry.  One of her friends happened to walk up at that point and asked if she would like to do some window shopping with her…she had overheard some of the conversation and wanted to help.  Elsie smiled and wiped the tears from her face.  She looked at me as if about to ask if it were ok, and I said “sometimes a little retail therapy is just what a girl needs” and gave permission for her to take a few dollars from her savings.

She came back feeling like a million bucks!

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I went downstairs today to take some pictures of the shelter’s Christmas decorations.  As I was admiring the tree, Linda, one of our cooks said “there were a lot more candy canes on the tree yesterday”.  I said “oh so they’ve been snapped up eh” and Linda said “well that’s what I used to do when I was a kid; that’s how I wanted them to feel”.

Then she came over and started re-stocking the tree with new candy canes which I imagine will become a daily occurrence until Christmas.  It warmed my heart knowing that such a seemingly small detail like candy canes on a tree was not missed by Linda – she is always thinking of our young people and how she can make them feel more at home at Covenant House.

Linda adding more candy canes

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We are currently compiling all of the items we need to fill the youth backpacks for Christmas.  In addition to the list here, we are asking for:

• shaving cream
• deoderant
• boxer shorts

We are open 24/7 for drop offs.  Thank you!

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Looking festive!

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Congratulations to False Creek Design Group who have won another award for the design work and renovation of our CSS space.  We all love the wonderful space they created for our youth and are thrilled they are receiving such amazing recognition from their peers.

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