Covenant House Vancouver Thanks the Community
The #CHVCatchUp is a monthly series featuring the latest updates and news from Covenant House Vancouver, written by the CHV team. Miss604 is proud to be the Official Blog Partner of CHV.
Covenant House Vancouver Thanks the Community
It has been a busy year at Covenant House Vancouver (CHV), and they wanted to reach out and thank everyone for their support and kindness.
Thank You!
CHV is almost entirely funded by the generosity of their donors. The community of individuals and organizations has supported them through donations, volunteering, and gifts in kind, ensuring that youth have access CHV’s programs and services.
As a way of celebrating the last year, CHV wishes to share how community support has helped them meet the growing needs of vulnerable young people in the community.
The Impact of Kindness
Last year, thanks to community support, CHV served more than 160,000 meals to youth. The Drop-In Centre welcomed over 760 youth — the largest number in its history. Youth have access to showers, laundry, clean clothes, counsellors, mental health support, activities, and can connect with other services in the community — all thanks to CHV donors.
Community partnerships and donor support have also enabled young people to experience what Vancouver has to offer — for many youth, these are first-time experiences. Trips to VanDusen Botanical Gardens, cycling around the Stanley Park Seawall, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concerts, and this winter: the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and the Vancouver Christmas Market.
Community partnerships can also save lives. In partnership with BC Housing, CHV’s Winter Shelter program is on now, until March 31. To mitigate the harsh winter weather, 12 beds are available nightly, from 10:00pm–8:30am, for youth, age 19 to 24, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Growing to Meet the Need
Last year marked the end of CHV’s 10-year Capital Campaign and Expansion Project, a partnership with its tremendous community of donors and supporters.
This included the construction of two new buildings and the renovation of their old building on Pender Street. The result: their newly expanded programs and services are fully operational and running at capacity, across all three of their buildings.
CHV now has 139 beds, across all programs, to help youth exit the streets and access its full Continuum of Care to meet a young person’s needs, while setting them up for a brighter future.
Looking Forward
Homelessness isn’t an individual issue; it’s a societal one. If we don’t prevent homelessness, we’re putting people on a path to more interactions with the criminal justice system, as well as needing more social services and more healthcare.
CHV envisions a future where young people don’t experience homelessness. Their new strategic plan means CHV will advocate for transformative change, provide young people with the supports they currently need, and will foster lasting outcomes, as youth transition into independence. CHV will work to end youth homelessness by addressing systemic barriers, creating long-term solutions, and by making sure that no young person falls through the cracks.
CHV would like to thank everyone for another amazing year of support, and they hope that the community will continue to walk with them, as they work to end youth homelessness. CHV would also like to thank Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604) for helping them to get the word out and for advocating for vulnerable youth in the community.
Follow Covenant House Vancouver on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
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