Covenant House Vancouver

At the start of winter the CGA Vancouver Chapter asked its members and students to collect clothing items for us. The response they got from their members was overwhelming.

Clothing was collected days prior to the Chapter’s November 16th PD event.  Even their PD speaker, John Nicola and his staff at Nicola Wealth Management pitched in to help.  They collected items in their office and brought them all to the seminar.  At the end of the day, the CGA Vancouver Chapter collected $300 and over 10 bags of clothing for Covenant House.  For a first time event, this was a huge success for the Vancouver Chapter.

The Chapter would like to thank all members that made this event such a big success.  A special thank you goes out to the staff at Nicola Wealth Management and the Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre for stepping up. 

Our thanks to CGA Vancouver Chapter, its members and Nicola Wealth Management for it's support!

Nicola Wealth Mgmt & Vancouver Chapter directors helping out

Covenant House Vancouver would like to thank Pacific Coastcom Communications for this generous donation of $8,000 to support our work assisting homeless young people.

Pacific Coastcom has been a valued friend to Covenant House since 1999 and this is the eleventh year  they have held an auction at their Annual Christmas party with the proceeds coming to Covenant House.

We would like to thank everyone at Pacific Coastcom and all of their suppliers for helping to make this donation possible.


Pictured above Scott MacDonald from Covenant House accepts an $8,000 donation from Roma Cirko, Pacific Coastcom.

We were recently visited by the Glen Pine WHO Group who brought us some much needed items for our young people. The Glen Pine WHO Group's mission is to get women who find themselves on their own back to enjoying being out in the community and in the company of other women in a safe, stress-free, and friendly environment. The WHO Group is a diverse group of women whose interests are friends, healthy living and the community.

A big thank you to everyone at the Glen Pine WHO Group for their generosity and for being there for our youth!

A Huge thanks to the BCAOMA for donating this amazing gingerbread town for our youth.  Over 100 hours were spent constructing this little town which is completely edible and even adorned with lights!  Covenant House has been the charity of choice for The BCAOMA and its members for the past 11 years, benefiting from both monetary and in-kind donations and we are so grateful for their support!

Above pictured from left to right: Chris Sui, Gail Billings (createor), Marg Gordon, Linda Brind

The Girlfriends Guide to Money: Your Math-Free, Guilt-Free Guide to Financial Health is designed to give women the confidence and skills to manage their money in alignment with their personal values. This is a great book and the authors also have big hearts because they are donating 20% of the proceeds from the sale of this book to CHV.

So if you have a girlfriend in your life that could use a little help with her finances get her this book and let her know that she is support homeless young people too!

This past weekend I was out grocery shopping when a wonderful random act of kindness occurred. I was waiting in line to pay for my groceries and the lady in front of me was just finishing up checking out. The cashier said to her that because she had spent a certain amount, she was entitled to a free turkey. The lady said thanks, but that she already had her turkey ordered and didn’t need one. She then turned to me and asked if I wanted it. I was about to say no, (clearly I was having a duh moment) when I remembered where I work.

I said that it would be great and explained that I work for a non-profit that helps homeless youth. I told her I would take the turkey and donate it for her and that we could really use it especially with thanksgiving coming up. She was delighted and asked where I work and I told her Covenant House Vancouver. She knew who we were and what we did and had even donated to us before. I thanked her and we both left the grocery store feeling great. It is amazing what can happen when we act with kindness.

A big thank you to that wonderful lady, I know our youth will enjoy eating that turkey!

Covenant House is grateful for the very generous gift of $43,434.00 received from the Team TELUS Charitable Giving programme.  Katie Gove, Senior Community Investment Manager from TELUS presented the cheque to Anne McCartney, Manager of Volunteers & Gifts-in-Kind (pictured below).

The donated funds represent designated TELUS team member and retiree donations which are matched dollar for dollar by TELUS!  Covenant House is honoured to have Team TELUS’ ongoing support and belief in the work we do with homeless youth; the team members clearly demonstrate their philosophy “we give where we live”.

"Dear Beautiful Person,

Once upon a time, I was a child and young like you. I was born in 1944. I had a difficult childhood situation. I was afraid. I wanted to run away but I was certain the parent would find me wherever I was. And then things would be worse than before. So I endured. It made me severely ill, physically and mentally. But you know what? Inside of me, I held strong to my private self. Someday, if I waited and learned to cope, my private self would be alright.

It took a long time. Gradually I gained a foothold on a happy life. Lots of people helped me and lots more would have helped if only I would have let them.

Now, I am 67 years old. I am healthy physically AND mentally. I finally know what I am going to be when I grow up and that makes everyday very exciting. My private core is very strong because of my experiences. I even have more understanding of the people and the why of the past. I wish you the same. Nobody in the world can love you as much as you can love your private self."

Denise