Covenant House Vancouver
1302 Seymour Street V6B 3P3 Vancouver, BC, Canada

Thank you for all your support and friendship over this holiday season and all year. It’s because of friends like you that we are here each and every day helping youth experiencing homelessness. Please note: Our office will be closing early December 24th and will remain closed until December 28th but if you still wish to make a donation, you can do so online. We will be open and taking calls on Tuesday, December 29th.... Our youth workers and frontline workers are busy on the 24-26th providing critical care to our young people and we prefer folks to not drop off items on these days. If you are looking for information about when & how you can donate clothing, food or other items please visit our website. If you are a youth in need of help over the holidays, we are open 24 hours/day and the toll free number is 1-877-685-7474.

For the 4th year in a row Jacqueline Ott provided the youth at Covenant House Vancouver with a delicious dinner, baked goodies, beautiful poinsettias and more. The party was held on December 1st as away to kick off our Advent Calendar. It was a little different this year with physical distancing in place but the young people still had a fantastic time. They loved the yummy food and enjoyed the special party just for them. We want to send a huge thank you to Jacqueline Ott for... being the incredible organizer of this event year after year. We also want to thank the following generous companies that donated to this special evening: UrbanFare at Shangri La Urban Fare Coal Harbour Store Hilary Miles Flowers Thank you for bringing Christmas cheer to our youth!

We are so grateful to our friends at NEWS 1130 and Ocean 98.5 for being media partners for our Triple Match Campaign The campaign runs until the 31st. Any gift you make today will be matched for three times the impact: https://www.covenanthousebc.org

Over 200 hundred donors gifted more than $53,000 during the Mega Flamingo Car Rally Fundraiser for Covenant House Vancouver which was created as a special birthday surprise for Megan Roberts. Megan Roberts is a psychiatrist who spent most of her career on the front-lines, providing mental health medical attention to youths and adults, who presented at hospital emergency. Megan has stage four cancer and celebrated her 44th birthday on December 16, 2020. Her family came up with... a COVID-friendly idea to create a car rally for Meg’s birthday. As part of the birthday celebration, it was decided that they would like to support Covenant House Vancouver. The family created a fundraising page on our do-it-yourself fundraising site and when a donation was made it entitled the supporter to a plastic pink flamingo which would be placed on Meg’s front lawn on her birthday. The original fundraising goal was $5,000 and to date it has raised over $53,000. Megan and her entire family are beyond grateful to everyone for their tremendous support and are continuing to encourage more donations with the goal of doubling what they have already raised. https://bit.ly/3p6onfk

Today, we want to send out a big #ThankYou to our friends at Skills For Hope Foundation for donating art supplies to help keep the youth's art therapy kits well stocked. The art therapy program here at CHV is an amazing program; and the youth are so thankful to have received this gift that allows them to continue with it into the future

Last weekend Brix & Mortar donated 80 meals for the young people at Covenant House Vancouver. Thank you to Brix & Mortar for the yummy Turkey Chowder and pasta, salad and donuts!

It's never too early to support your community if you can. Many of the holiday adopt-a-family programs are opening soon for sponsors, and those in need of spons...oring, to sign up. "Helping a family in need is always a meaningful experience, but helping a family during the holidays changes their entire experience of this time of year." Surrey Christmas Bureau Covenant House Vancouver Burnaby Community Services Family Services of the North Shore

The Canada Cares campaign is calling for a federal donation matching fund to double the impact of donations and empower the charitable sector. Government and citizens can work together to extend the vital work of charities. For us at Covenant House, such a fund would greatly strengthen support for the essential services we provide for young people in need - in this time of crisis and beyond. Learn more & join the campaign: CanadaCaresCampaign.ca

We want to take this moment to raise up our fantastic partners at Nicola Wealth. Together with Canuck Place Children's Hospice, we nominated Nicola Wealth for a Giving Hearts award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to our community. They give broadly and generously, demonstrating a sincere commitment to all of Vancouver. Thank you Nicola Wealth for helping us to provide a home for youth experiencing homeless. In this photo: a volunteer from Nicola Wealth helping out during last year’s #CHSleepOut Executive Edition event!

Susie stayed with us a few times over the past year. In her most recent stay, she came to us directly from a violent situation and an abusive relationship. When she arrived at our Crisis Program, she told us we were the main support she thought of when she was going through her abusive experience and knew she needed to leave right away. That alone has stuck with me that we were the primary support that a youth thought of in their time of need... Read the full story:... https://www.covenanthousebc.org//susie-is-committed-to-ma/ See more

Covenant House Vancouver leads by example to demonstrate that caring relationships are based on love, trust, respect, and honesty.

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and the 2020 theme is acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all. Covenant House Vancouver believes in working together to empower children, families and communities to help end poverty. https://www.un.org//observances/day-for-eradicating-poverty

The 150th St. Stephen’s Scouting Group went above and beyond in showing love and care for the youth here at CHV. They collected food items for Covey’s Cupboard and donated five new backpacks for our Christmas Backpack Campaign. They even hosted a Sleep Out: Student Edition and raised an incredible $1,500 for young people in need. #ThankYou to the 150th St. Stephen’s Scouting Group!

We have a sweet story to share today about one of our dedicated volunteers, Katie, who has been a volunteer with us for over ten years. In the pre-COVID days, Katie volunteered her time in the kitchen at our Pender Street location. There, she would work with our Food Services team to prepare healthy and delicious meals for the youth in our Crisis Program and Rights of Passage Program. When the pandemic hit, we had to limit volunteer shifts to minimize the risk of exposure for... the young people. Katie still wanted to give back and found a way to help our youth receive a yummy meal. North Point Brewing Co (Katie’s son Liam is an owner), Katie, and 2 of her friends, donated 12 frozen pizzas for a special meal. Our Food Services team served them for lunch recently and as you can imagine the pizza’s were a huge hit with the youth. Thank you Katie & friends, Liam and North Point Brewing Co!

We are wishing all our youth, volunteers, supporters, donors and staff a very Happy Thanksgiving! This year more than ever we want to express our gratitude for all the inspiring people in our Covenant House family.

*Ahem* Geeeeeeeet your 50/50 tickeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeets folks! Just like you're in the stadium, innit? whitecapsfc.com/5050 ... Covenant House Vancouver

The 10th of October marks #WorldHomelessDay it’s a chance for the global community to acknowledge those experiencing homelessness. World Homeless Day draw’s attention to homeless people’s needs locally and internationally and provides opportunities for the community to get involved in responding to homelessness. Here are some ways you can show your support and solidarity for those experiencing homelessness:... -Educate people about homeless issues -Celebrate and support those helping to end homelessness -Highlight local issues in the media -Donate to non-profits and service providers -Volunteer -Invite a guest speaker to your workplace or school (even virtually) -Host a fundraiser -Share #WorldHomelessDay Every single person deserves unconditional love and absolute respect. It is an honour to support young people in our community when then need a helping hand.

Sending gratitude to our incredible donors who provide not only the funds to make sure young people do not go hungry but who also send positive encouragement through stickers they sign that we place on our sandwiches.