The #CHVCatchUp is a monthly series featuring the latest updates and news from Covenant House Vancouver. Miss604 is proud to be the Official Blog Partner of CHV to share and tell their stories, like this month’s feature about the Crisis Program:
Covenant House Sleep Out: Home Edition
On Friday, May 28th Covenant House Vancouver will host its second virtual Sleep Out: Home Edition. As a virtual event, Covenant House is encouraging people to Sleep Out “together” in solidarity with homeless youth while remaining physically apart to raise funds and awareness for youth experiencing homelessness.
Covenant House Vancouver is challenging individuals, families, and businesses to spend one night on their living room floor, on their balcony, or in their backyard, and raise crucial funds to support their Street Outreach Program.
Traveling on foot, Outreach Workers do all they can to build trusting relationships with young people on the streets by meeting them where they are and offering relentless support, absolute respect, and unconditional love; with the hopes that, from then on, a young person will trust CHV enough to allow us to accompany them on a journey to healthy independence.
You can make a positive impact on the lives of youth experiencing homelessness.
Your support helps transform the lives of youth experiencing homelessness, not only helping them exit street life but also providing hope for a brighter future. This event aims to raise $200,000 and your gift will be matched by Kim Streit, up to $35,000!
Sleepers can choose where and how they Sleep Out (somewhere safe and legal). This flexible event allows you to have an impact on youth experiencing homelessness while choosing what your event day/evening looks like. Many participants will Sleep Out in their own backyards, while others Sleep Out in their living rooms and on their kitchen floors.
Covenant House Vancouver will provide inspiring online programming the evening of the event and the morning after. Also, the City Hall of Vancouver and Harbour Centre will light up in Covenant House blue to show support for the event.
From my 2016 Sleep Out experience
I participated in the Covenant House Sleep Out for four years. It was uncomfortable, unnerving, and a long and sleepless night — but that’s the point. It’s all for an amazing cause and very worthy of your participation. Read about my first experience in 2013 here, which kept me coming back to support the cause. Register as a team or individual today »
It’s been almost 17 years since I started Miss604 from my hometown of Surrey and I’m finally launching a merch store, for a cause! Thanks to my friends at MAKE Vancouver, the Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection is now OPEN, for a limited time only…
About the Cause
For its 50th Anniversary, Options Community Services has united 50 influential South Fraser women, myself included, for the Women of Options campaign to help raise $1.5 million in support of a new affordable housing build. Our goal is to each raise $25,000 in support of this project. Options board members and staff have also contributed to the cause and the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society has contributed $250,000. The $1.5 million raised through Options will go towards a 100-unit complexon King George Blvd.
My fellow fundraisers have been hard at work hosting auctions, art sales, gift card campaigns, and more. It’s been wonderful to see how all of these women have been supporting this cause. For my personal fundraiser, I wanted to offer something a little different. I thought about my hometown, I thought about special places and moments, and I decided to create the Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection – for a cause, of course!
Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection
“Meet up at Muffin Break and do some shopping at the mall before heading to a birthday party at Stardust, or grab a Froster at Mac’s after the Trojan Class basketball tournament. Hop on the nostalgia bus at Whalley Exchange and reminisce about growing up in the City of Parks in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.”
I picked Surrey Place Mall, West Whalley, and the legendary Rodeo Drive-In to start, representing my own sense of nostalgia and kick-starting my memory bank. HUGE shout out and thank you to my friends at MAKE Vancouver for not only hosting the store, but running with my ideas and creating some awesome products for this campaign!
“MAKE is the most creative store in the universe! Our Granville Island store is THE place to find one-of-a-kind, hand-made, local, and quirky gifts as well as being the ultimate place to create your own custom work. We have the technology in our store, and our website, to help you customize just about anything with printing, laser engraving and embroidery too.“
West Whalley Jr High: Striving for Excellence! West Whalley Junior High was a fixture of the neighbourhood from 1958 to 2002. The home of the blue and orange played host to the annual Trojan Classic Basketball tournament.
Surrey Place Mall:Before the big city centre redevelopment at the turn of the century, there was Surrey Place Mall. Built in 1972, the original shopping centre, with its iconic brown brick floors, was anchored by The Bay and Sears. Maybe you bought your first tape or CD at Sam the Record Man or stocked up at High Low Groceries too. A hop skip and a jump away from Stardust and A&B Sound in the heart of Whalley.
Rodeo Drive-In:This Surrey landmark closed in 2006, and was a fixture on the corner of 152nd Street and Highway 10 for 45 years. Mosey up to a picnic table under the recognizable orange tarp and order yourself a Rodeo Burger, made with fresh, lean ground meat – never frozen. Pair it with a fries, onion rings, a shake — or a helping of nostalgia!
Working on community projects has always been a passion of mine and I attribute that to the caring, diverse, and inclusive community I grew up in. This project evokes nostalgia but it also gives back.
We have t-shirts, hoodies, water bottles and mugs in the store right now! 25% of your purchase will be donated directly to Options Community Services as part of the Women of Options campaign to fund an affordable housing build at King George at 81st.
The collection is only available for a limited time so act fast! You have until June 15, 2021 to purchase your items and support the cause.
NOTE: Products will ship just twice, so please know your order will be printed and shipped either May 30th or June 15th. This helps keep costs down so more can go to the cause.
Thank you so much, dear readers, for your support over the last 17 years. I hope you enjoy this collection and supporting the campaign for affordable housing.
~ Rebecca.
Enter to Win
I would like to ship one winner the collection item of their choice! Here’s how you can enter to win:
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win an item from the Miss604 Surrey Nostalgia Collection by @MakeVancouver supporting @OptionsBC http://ow.ly/qCu350ESpZ9″ quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. The prize is one single item (t-shirt, hoodie, bottle or mug) from the Miss604 Collection. UPDATE – the winner is Linda!
This weekend Miss604 is proud to sponsor the first of two Aunt Leah’s Virtual Trivia Extravaganza events on Saturday along with Summer at Burnaby Village Museum. Find these events and more things to do in Vancouver this weekend (online, and beyond) listed below:
Beaumont Boutique, a thrift shop located inside The Beaumont Studios, which is home to over 40 artist studios and 100 artists, is re-opening as an outdoor thrift store for the summer.
When: Thursdays (starting May 13) to Saturdays in May & June, 12:00pm to 7:00pm Where: 316 W 5th Ave, Vancouver
Beaumont Boutique is currently seeking donations that will help their re-opening be a success. When its doors were shut last winter, it was full of seasonal items, which were given to a local shelter upon closing. Items they are currently hoping to acquire for the new outdoor season include: Summer clothing, accessories, shoes, and home décor.
To show their appreciation, for every two approved items you donate, they’ll give you a store credit for one item that you can use any time this year. They are looking for high quality items, and would like to limit “fast fashion” pieces or articles in disrepair.
Beaumont Studios was established in 2004 by artist Jude Kusnierz, as an open and supportive environment for a wide variety of creative professionals. The Beaumont Studios Artist Society is a not for profit organization which relies on community support. They currently have a Patreon running to support artists and you can shop the Beaumont Boutique’s collection of artwork and apparel designed by resident artists online anytime.
The Brand Battle for Good – Canada’s first zero waste competition between brands – concluded on May 5th when team Talent Pool won for its ‘EcoMeter’ concept, incentivizing restaurants to adopt environmentally conscious actions. From a field of 18 teams, Vancity and the joint Hootsuite-Swany team earned the runner up trophies for their concepts, targeting fashion and plastics respectively.
Winner of the Brand Battle for Good
Inspired by New York City restaurants’ health rating scores, EcoMeter will grade a restaurant’s sustainability practices. Its core idea is a window decal reading A, B or C that would inform and influence behavioural change among customers and restaurant operators. Judges commended Talent Pool for targeting the surge in single-use food container waste caused by 4.2 million more Canadians ordering takeout weekly compared to before the pandemic.
“An idea formed around the opportunity to rally the restaurant community in a collective push towards zero waste,” said Dan Marrett of Ciele Athletics. “We can leverage under-utilized and start-up resources to support them.” Marrett hopes to pilot EcoMeter in late 2021. Additional industry and government support will be sought for a wider rollout next year.
“The win is slowly sinking in but I think our team is just really excited to work alongside Brands for Better to bring the idea to life and help our planet,” said Jill Robinson of UBC who, along with Marrett, represented the team on the pitch stage. Ashley Moore of Clio, Rick Bezuidenhout of 10Fold Eventware, Jennah Dohms of Enchant Christmas, freelancer Alex Cronje, marketing consultant Joel Hansen and UBC Sauder business student Sue Lee completed the team’s roster.
1st place team Talent Pool, photo by Maxine Bulloch, Brands for Better Foundation
“We saw ourselves as the singles table at a wedding; in most cases meeting for the first time at our first team workshop,” joked Marrett about the unique makeup of Talent Pool. “A common passion and desire to impact change in our city helped bring us together instantly.”
“We heard a lot of great ideas from teams that really care about our city,” said Karla Peckett, Creative Director at SOLE/ReCORK and founder of Brands for Better Foundation, the not-for-profit that hosted the contest. “Ultimately, the idea that was most implementable and offered the biggest impact captured the support of the crowd.”
Next year’s Brand Battle for Good will focus on sparking positive social impact in the community. A youth career development initiative called The Spark Factor and a collaboration with Habitat for Humanity are the next projects for Brands for Better.
