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. The following post has been contributed by Nicola, Outreach Worker at Covenant House Vancouver:
Community Support Services at Covenant House
Covenant House Vancouver’s Community Support Services Team includes their Drop-In Centre and Street Outreach which provide an array of “as-needed” services to youth who are experiencing homelessness, are at-risk of becoming homeless or are precariously housed.
Street Outreach
Covenant House Vancouver’s Street Outreach Team helps young people aged 16 to 24 who are living, or at risk of living, on Vancouver’s streets.
The Outreach Team builds trusting relationships by meeting young people where they are and by being a consistent, supportive presence in their lives. Travelling on foot, the team offers food, support, hygiene supplies and minor medical attention. Outreach Workers let youth know they are welcome to come to Covenant House’s Drop-In Centre for a hot meal or shower.
Street life is brutally dangerous for vulnerable youth, and when the team finds young people in crisis, they are trained to connect them with psychiatrists, medical professionals, and social workers, or to bring them to Covenant House’s Crisis Program if they are in need of supportive housing.
Drop-In Centre
At Covenant House Vancouver’s Drop-In Centre, youth receive:
Food, clothing, and hygiene supplies
Access to shower and laundry facilities
Connections to Youth Workers for support, goal setting, and personal planning
Appointments with Registered Clinical Counsellors
Access to Social Workers who help create an individual plan with the youth
Help from a Housing Support Worker and independent living start-up kits
Referrals to other social services
Help with finding employment and referrals to job centres and training programs
Financial assistance to get back home, if that’s a safe option
Recreational opportunities including yoga, soccer, hockey, basketball, and baseball
Use of the message board, long-distance phone plan, and mailing address
Outreach and Drop-In in Action
Rodrigo is a young man who would come into the Drop-In Centre to get his various needs met, like receiving food and clothing. At first, he did not interact much with Covenant House staff or other youth. Rodrigo was staying at different shelters and couch surfing. Eventually, he got into a low-barrier supportive housing unit which was closer to Covenant House, so he started coming in more often for meals.
As time passed, he opened up to staff and participated in different activities and outings. Rodrigo struggled with substance misuse and found that joining Covenant House for activities helped him with wanting to use.
The Outreach Team continued to build a strong relationship with Rodrigo. They encouraged him to come to the Drop-In or to come to the park to play basketball.
Rodrigo started sharing more and talked about his love of music. One day, he ended up asking for a guitar from Covenant House’s Gifts-in-Kind department. He was so excited to start playing again after not having a guitar nor being able to afford one on his own.
He started bringing his guitar with him to the Drop-In Centre and would play songs that he had written for the other youth and staff.
Recently, Rodrigo reconnected with his family and applied for music school. We are so glad Rodrigo came out of his shell. Seeing him build social connections and gain confidence has been a joy to witness.
Since 1997, Covenant House Vancouver has been providing love and hope to youth experiencing homelessness. They are the premiere service provider of residential and outreach services for homeless and at-risk youth ages 16 to 24 in Vancouver.
Pi Theatre’s Provocateurs Presentation Series features Macbeth Muet, and the Canadian premiere of Frequencies, streamed online February 18 to 21, 2021.
Frequencies AaronCollier photos by Richie Wilcox and Samson Photography. Macbeth photo created by Anne-Marie Baribeau
February 18-19, 2021 at 7:00pm and 10:00pm Macbeth Muet is an innovative interpretation of Shakespeare’s play performed by two actors using elaborate sound design, physical theatre, and the manipulation of inanimate objects to represent the play’s characters.
Macbeth Muet completely deconstructs this Shakespeare Tragedy into a fast-paced, visceral theatre experience, using the body, objects as imagery, and a ton of fake blood. Produced by La Fille du Laitier, entire scenes are reduced to a single look as Shakespeare’s complex and beautiful poetry is rendered mute, and searing. And through it all, a couple is transformed irrevocably. Created by Jon Lachlan Stewart and Marie Hélène Bélanger Dumas, and directed by Jon Lachlan Stewart, Macbeth Muet presents a world so devoid of morality that human lives become as disposable as styrofoam cups. And the excess – the blood, the scraps, the waste – will all be left behind for future kings. Macbeth Muet is presented via livestream (multi-view or single camera view) with performances broadcasting from the Maison international des arts de la marionette (MIAM) in Montréal, QC.
February 20-21, 2021 at 4:00pm and 8:00pm Debuting live in real-time from Halifax, in partnership with Pi Theatre, Prairie Theatre Exchange and Theatre Outré, Frequencies is an innovative, solo, and mixed reality performance viewed through the eyes of a second actor wearing a VR headset with a special camera attached. While exploring his connection to his family in what could best be described as one part live techno concert and one part autobiographical confessional, the audience sees Collier and his keyboards augmented by digital scenography. Frequencies premieres nationally via livestream with performances broadcasting from The Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax, NS.
Each production, a display of sheer theatrical invention, includes cutting-edge technology and will be presented virtually, live in real-time from Montreal and Halifax. Follow Pi Theatre on Facebook for more info.
While we have Valentine’s Day, Family Day and more fun coming up later in the month, this weekend is still packed full of events, entertainment and activities online. There’s some great Black History Month programming, and many more things to do in Vancouver this weekend listed below:
Meinhardt Fine Foods is serving up delicious meals and treats that you can pickup or have delivered right to your door to enjoy Valentine’s Day at home. Whether you’re searching for an indulgent edible gift, a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, or a delicious prepared dinner, they have it available for order online.
Sweet Hardt Dessert Selection
Meinhardt Fine Foods Valentine’s Day
The three-course dinner for two was created by Meinhardt’s talented chefs and features high quality local ingredients. This meal was designed for simplicity and flavour, simply heat, plate, and serve your delectable dinner.
If you’re looking to sweeten your Valentine’s Day take a look at the Sweet Hardt Dessert Selection. This tempting selection of treats is perfect for sharing with the one you love.
Miss604 is the proud Blog Sponsor of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation through the Miss604 Health Check Series. The following has been contributed by their team.
Angela Chapman: Philanthropic Leadership During COVID-19
She was soon faced with the same challenge as other across the globe – leading during an unprecedented pandemic. The pandemic put the Foundation at the heart of a community response to support frontline health care workers. It was an opportunity to inspire generous donations that galvanized our community’s resolve to defend against COVID-19 and fuel the advancement of medical research that will lead to defeating it.
A personal debt to health care
Angela was born and raised in Vancouver. She was diagnosed in the womb with Rhesus Hemolytic Disease, a condition where antibodies in the mother’s blood destroy the baby’s blood cells. Before a cure for this was found, the disease could cause brain damage, deafness or death to the baby. “In a very real sense, I owe my life to being born in a city and province that has world-leading healthcare.”
“It certainly feels like karma,” Angela says about her return to Vancouver to take a role with the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation after more than two decades in higher education philanthropy.
While studying at McGill University, she funded her studies by working for the Alumni office, which was her first foray into fundraising. After studying abroad in Russia and France, Angela successfully applied to medical school in Montreal. In balancing the priorities of a young family, she chose instead to pursue an MBA at Laval University in Quebec City. Those business studies gave her newfound insights into fundraising, which she put to use when she returned to McGill.
The impacts of giving
Angela spent more than two decades inspiring philanthropy to higher education in Canada, Australia and Singapore. Her passion has been fuelled by the incredible teachers and researchers that she has worked alongside. She recognizes the opportunities and experiences that education had afforded her personally, and acknowledges: “Institutions of higher learning have played such a key role in advancing Canada and our global society, and I was inspired for so many years to play an enabling role in that.”
These experiences gave Angela a first-hand view of the ability for philanthropy to advance society and individuals. Relatively modest investments in new programs or promising young students can have outsized results years later. This has helped form her philosophy on the differences between charity and philanthropy.
