Covenant House Vancouver

We would like to thank Bryan Adams and The Bryan Adams Foundation for making a donation that will provide access to all of our programs to one of our young people for an entire year.

Spectra Energy Employees volunteered in our Gift in Kind program as part of their Helping Hands in Action Initiative. They helped to sort and distribute the many donations we are fortunate to receive from the community. The group worked incredibly hard and sorted through 5,000 lbs of donations. Way to go!

A huge thanks to Cindy Willers and her awesome group for their ongoing support of Covenant House Vancouver throughout the year.

On May 29th which is TELUS Day of Service an enthusiastic group of volunteers from TELUS helped transform our Pender rooftop into an oasis for our young people. They cleaned out flower beds and transported soil from the parkade. The rooftop is used by youth and staff alike to have a break, get some fresh air or read a book. Having a nice, clean space will allow everyone to enjoy the rooftop garden even more.

The results were amazing and you can see it for yourself from the photos below.

A big thanks to TELUS for their ongoing support of our young people and Covenant House Vancouver.

Marty, one of our Development Officers, wrote to thank a donor from whom we received a donation.  He got this reply (posted with the donor's permission):

Hi Marty,

Thanks so much for your note. It was both my 5 year old son Max and 3 year old daughter Kelty and I was so proud of them.

The story is such... My kids came to see me at my office and they were chatting with the building's cleaning lady, a lovely woman who has had a terribly hard life. Out of the goodness of her blessed heart, she ran after them as we were leaving and put $20 in each of their hands.

My children are so fortunate and need no excesses. Mira, the woman, needs every penny she earns yet she gave away $40 which I know is so much for her to give my children who she knows have everything they need. I explained the story to my children, who without hesitation suggested we give it to someone who needs it. We drove straight to you and it meant so much to us all.

My son goes to St. Anthony's and we are all proud to continue to support your cause and it made me so proud to see my children do that yesterday. I thank the staff too who were so gracious and explained to Max and Kelty how they were helping.

God bless you and your team!

Joanne

 

I had a great experience recently that reminded me why I came to work for Covenant House almost 10 years ago.

I am a Senior Development Officer here at Covenant House and in my role I spend a lot of time explaining in detail how important our programs are. I use numbers, graphs, percentages and tours through both of our buildings so our donors can fully understand how important their donations are to our young peoples' success.

I had a meeting and tour planned with a prospective donor who was considering recommending Covenant House for a very significant gift. We had set the meeting after a phone conversation and they were interested but they wanted to meet prior to any commitments. The day of the meeting, I went downstairs to meet my guests at the front desk, but when I arrived they were talking with one of our young people. When the conversation finished, I introduced myself and my guest said, "No need for the tour or the meeting; we're sold."

We did go upstairs to talk and it turns out that while they were waiting in our lobby a young man asked them if they were donors and they answered, "yes we are." Our young person then said "Thank you, because this place saved my life". A short conversation had continued from there with the young man explaining his trip from back east and the difficulties he has overcome and how thankful he was that Covenant House was here.

This short and honest exchange had a profound impact. It proved to our donors that their support is appreciated. It allowed this young person the opportunity to say thank you for all that they have received, thanks to people they don't usually meet.

Confirmation students at Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church in Richmond decided to put their "money where their mouth was" in a unique fundraising project for Covenant House. Over one weekend, the students aged 12 - 14, raised $1200 to be used towards our matching June mailing, along with funds donated by an anonymous supporter who has pledged to match all donations to a maximum of $25,000.

According to the Church's pastor, Rev Paul Chu, the students called this fundraiser Project Snackrifice in keeping with the Lenten observance of abstinence and sacrifice. At each weekend service, the students made an appeal to the parish community to abstain from snacks during lent and donate the money they would have spent to Covenant House. After each service, students sold pictures of four snack items - chips, candy, ice cream and pop - for a donation of $1 each.

The response from the community was overwhelming according to Rev Chu mainly because "the appeal to help youth came from our youth. The benefit to our children was priceless. They didn't know the power of their appeal!"

Our thank-a-thons are a volunteer driven program wherein we simply call our donors to thank them for their recent donation.  Often the donor is wary of the call, and is pleasantly surprised when they are simply thanked.  We received an email from a donor who was thanked last night and I'm attaching it because it beautifully sums up why we do thank-a-thons and the meaningful impact they have on our donors.

I couldn't resist posting this picture of one of our staff wearing the latest spring fashion.  Our Gift in Kind (GIK) Program is thriving right now - maybe it's all that spring cleaning people are doing.  In any case, to say that we get a wide variety of donated clothing would be an understatement.  We are grateful for our donor community's generosity - our youth are always in need of clothing for work and leisure activities.

Click here for a list of items for which we are always in need.  And thank you for thinking of our youth when you have clothes to pass along.

Crystal is owed big time for letting me post this photo

About a year ago I received a phone call from McBride Elementary School Vice Principal Jason Eng - he informed me of his school's three-year plan to fundraise for Covenant House. Why are they doing this? Jason's answer was succinct,"To give our students the idea that they can make a difference in the world."

Since that initial conversation I've been awestruck by the students' dedication to Covenant House's cause and the support shown by teachers and staff. Led by the school's Global Citizenship Club and Student Council, "Toonie Tuesdays" was created - a monthly fundraiser that encourages every student to donate $2.00 for Covenant House. Their fundraising strategy was expanded with the development and creation of a wristband. Wristbands inscribed with "McBride Supports Covenant House" were mass-produced and are being sold on an ongoing basis. Total funds raised in 2009 alone were over $2,500!

The students of McBride Elementary School have clearly demonstrated their commitment as young global citizens; they have indeed made a difference in the lives of the youth we serve.

Mark Savard addresses students & staff at Sir Richard McBride Elementary
School's kickoff assembly - their fundraising campaign launch for Covenant House.

We received a donation today and with it a card containing the following message:

Our son was one of those young men that found his way to your door.  He did have a loving home where he was always welcome however he chose the streets of downtown Vancouver form age 15 - 18.

When he returned home, he was a heroin addict.

Seven years later, he is now studying in his third year of medical school and loving it!

With our sincere thanks,

(name withheld to protect confidentiality)