Covenant House Vancouver

Our long standing supporters at Air Canada came to us again this past Friday with a donation of 3,840 individual frozen Quiznos pizzas - that’s over 1,500 lbs of pizza. What a great donation and it’s one that our youth will definitely enjoy devouring. Thank you Air Canada!

We are always grateful for any donations and food donations are always very welcome and needed. To learn more about what we need click here.

Pictured are:

On the right: Jack Gray, Coordinator, Catering Operations, Air Canada

On the left: Robert North, Covenant House Donor and supporter

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As our regular readers know, Covenant House’s mental health team has been augmented with the support of Walter, an adorable beagle and therapy dog-in training, for the past year.  I am pleased to report that Walter is no longer “in training” – he passed his test last week with Pets and Friends and is now qualified to go into hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities.  In order to pass, Walter had to undergo testing that amongst other things, includes evaluating a dog’ s response to loud noises, how a dog greets a person (no jumping on them etc.) and how the dog responds to their handler being attacked.

Jesse, Walter’s guardian and one of our mental health clinicians, explained that the examiner simulates a situation where the dog handler is attacked to gauge how the dog will respond:   will he/she be aggressive towards the attacker?  If so, they automatically fail.  Jesse said the examiner ran up and pushed into him while Walter observed.  Well, instead of showing any aggression towards the examiner/attacker, Walter jumped up on her lap and started licking her face!  What a way to diffuse an angry attacker – dog kisses.  Needless to say, Walter passed with flying colours.

We are pleased to welcome Walter as a permanent member of our team. 

Jesse and Walter

Photo by Kent Kallberg

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By the time I was three years old, you'll probably won't believe but I was stressing cause I was watching my grandma grow old.
If she left who would take care of the innocence I didn't know.
So the first thing I thought, trust nobody in the world and before your chance leaves all aboard.
"Don't forget about me," I use to scream. But it seems everything I asked for was ignored regardless of my needs.
But the day I found the Covenant in 2008, I was still a street kid looking for away. I was hungry and they fed me dinner every night. "Man I didn't miss a plate".
I was hopeless looking in the dark. But now I see brighter days. Yeah!
All the kids eating good in the Covenant got it made.
A stray, no longer do you have to run. I'll be here for the rest of your days.
God forgave the homeless kids and made the covenant there new place

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From the 19^th to the 26^th of September teams from around the world including a team of 8 men from Vancouver will play soccer in Rio, Brazil. Sixty four national teams from around the world will be playing in this tournament and the players are all homeless. Mel Young is the founder of the Homeless World Cup and he explains why he created this initiative on their website.

“We simply use football as a way of getting homeless people to come together to begin to take responsibility for the next step in their lives. We have created a global football stage where we have simply changed the landscape around homeless people and then they change as a result. It is simple. It is magic. It is working. Thousands of homeless people have changed their lives forever as a result of being involved. We now have around 80 countries connected with the Homeless World Cup and the network is growing. More people are getting involved and importantly more homeless people – now formerly homeless people – are taking up lead roles.”

The Homeless World Cup is a wonderful and creative way that people are helping homeless on a global scale. If you want to keep an eye on our Vancouver team click here and to learn more about this cause click here.

Go Canada Go!

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Come join us at the Blarney Stone for a night filled with dancing and great music.

Tickets are only $15, but donations are welcome since 100% of the proceeds will be given to Covenant House Vancouver. There will also be a clothing drive, so be sure to bring any old/unused clothes with you!

There's going to be an array of local music and spoken word. Here's a little taster of what magic your ears will be blessed with...

Redrick Sultan, Strawberry Halfmoon Garden, Cantilever, Joseph & the Familiar Strangers, and Ty Cooke

Local DJ'S Motions, DJ Elementalrhythm, and DJ Static (WEFUNK Radio)

We are happy to announce that the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team will also be performing:
Johnny Macrae, Lucia Misch, Sasha Langford and RC Weslowski.

That night the Blarney Stone will also have a special on: $20 for pizza and a pitcher of Sleeman's Original.

The details:

When: Sunday September 19 at 7:30pm - Monday at 2:00am

Where:  The Blarney Stone, 216 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC

For tickets or more info:

Danni: danniprins@gmail.com, 604 376 8813
Nikki: nikki.kouts@gmail.com, 778 232 1929

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Covenant House Vancouver has two buildings from which we run all our programs from, one called Drake and the other called Pender based on the streets where you find them. Our Drake building houses part of our Shelter (22 beds), Drop In and outreach programs as well as our Finance and Fundraising teams. Pender is home to another part of our Shelter program (32 beds), Rights of Passage (ROP) as well as our Executive Director, Human Resources and other staff members.

Pender has a wonderful rooftop garden and common area for the youth and staff. This year we were blessed with the talents of a team at TELUS who helped us to transform our rooftop from “drab to fab”.

We wanted to share some pictures of the beautiful garden that are being lovingly tended to by one of our maintenance staff, Crystal.  The tranquil garden is a little oasis in the middle of downtown Vancouver and has been enjoyed by our staff and young people all summer. 

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New information on human trafficking in Canada has been released and the findings are alarming.  The Vancouver Sun reports that “the victims of human trafficking in Canada tend to be young, with one case that has led to a conviction involving a 14-year-old".  The Sun article is referencing a report released by the RCMP entitled Human Trafficking in Canada:  a Threat Assessment.  Key findings from the report can be found here and access to the full report can be requested by emailing htncc-cnctp@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.

Interestingly, the Ottawa Citizen wrote an article today about human trafficking and Canada's failure to folow through with prosecuting the offenders.  Click here to read more.

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“BREAKING NIGHT IS A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN HEARTFELT MEMOIR that will change the way you look at your community, the obstacles in your own life, and the American Dream. An inspiration; a must-read."— ROBERT REDFORD.

Wanted to share a wonderful book with you it is called "Breaking Night" and it is the memoir of Liz Murray who went from being homeless to going to Harvard University.

The U-Tube clip shows her talking about her story, family and past.





This is a wonderful story that reminds you that anything is possible.

Enjoy!

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I met this young man by the name if Terry when I first started working at Covenant House. He was a quiet and shy young man who had a zeal and passion for life. Over the course of time that I have known him, I have watched him struggle with a crystal meth addiction; however, even within his addiction he would  still come to drop-in because he had nowhere else to go. When Terry would come in, I would see him on his best days but also on his worst days when the addiction was getting to him and would bring him down. It was sad to see how the addiction would cast a shadow on Terry's zeal for life.

Terry had a strong desire to get cleaned up and we often had long conversations about this. He knew that getting his life back together and getting clean was going to be a very long road ahead and sometimes I would see him sitting in silence at Covenant House contemplating what to do next.

Terry took the risk and over the course of a few months I saw him in and out of Detox treatment having relapsed on a few occasions. I watched how the addiction began to wear on him as he wrestled with it and I started to wonder if his addiction would cost him his life but Terry had a spirit that loved life and this spirit is what would drive him to success. After one of Terry's relapses, he made a promise that he would try detox treatment one more time. He was like the little train that wouldn't quit.

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I’ve come across two interesting articles on mental health this week:  one that explores a mother’s frustration with the “system” and the “parents to blame game” and one that talks about the financial impact mental illness has on  businesses in Canada.  Each article explores mentall illness from a completely different point of view. I find it fascinating that this topic illicits both strong emotional and economic discussions.  Have a read and let me know what you think.

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