Central City Foundation

➤ Continued from COVER
For example, EMBERS Green Renovations
has created jobs for local residents who have
trade skills and talent, including people facing
social and economic barriers, giving them the
chance to use their skills and improve their
lives. CCF donors recently helped EMBERS
buy a new work van to help them offer
general contracting services using socially
responsible labour and environmentallyfriendly building and recycling practices.
Derrick Bruneau has been employed full time
at EMBERS for two months, working on a
roofing project, doing cedar siding, painting
and a kitchen renovation. Derrick says he
learns something new every day.
“It’s tough for guys like me with a shady past
to find work,” says Derrick, a recovering
alcoholic. “They get guys working, build that
self-esteem, start putting some money in their
pocket and get them integrated back into
society. I have seen changes in people here.
I’ve seen success in only a short time.”
Another social enterprise CCF donors
support is Potluck Café and Catering. Since
2001, a key component of Potluck Café’s
mission has been to provide training, skills
and jobs to Downtown Eastside residents
who face multiple barriers to employment.
Employees gain on-the-job training at
Potluck’s neighbourhood café on West
Hastings, where they prepare and serve
food for the organization’s corporate catering
clients.
The most recent grant from Central City
Foundation helped Potluck Café replace its
aging delivery van and purchase catering
equipment like platters, dishes and baskets
that will allow the non-profit to remain
competitive and keep their staff working.
“Central City’s commitment to the inner city
and the Downtown Eastside is very high,” says
Potluck CEO Heather O’Hara. “They are not
afraid to invest in social enterprises.
It’s not just charity, but really investing their
money in ways that the organizations
themselves can leverage and do more with it.”
while facilitating micro-entrepreneurialism,
economic independence and empowerment.
Central City Foundation has supported the
market from its inception, and a recent grant
to purchase tents, carts, tables, canopies and
cleaning supplies will significantly improve
the atmosphere and family friendliness of
the market. With about 150 vendors each
week, earning anywhere from a few dollars to
fifty dollars, the Market is generating about
$500,000 in economic impact in the inner
city each year!
“We’re creating an environment that allows
the money to flow,” says Roland Clarke, one
of the market’s coordinators and a vendor
himself. “People feel like they are participating
in something. Everybody is building this
market together.”
Some residents of the inner city need a lot
of flexibility to be able to work to the best of
their abilities. With help from Central City
Foundation donors, organizations like Mission
Possible, United We Can, Megaphone and
the Pigeon Park Street Market are able to
facilitate the entrepreneurial spirit of inner city
residents, giving them the tools and freedom
they need to create their own income.
Megaphone has 175 street vendors around
the city selling the annual Hope in Shadows
calendar and Megaphone Magazine. This
year, Central City Foundation donors helped
the organization purchase essential gear for
their vendors in Vancouver’s rainy outdoor
climate, including raincoats, waterproof bags
and umbrellas. The vendors work as much as
they are able and create a visible presence of
the economic vitality available in the inner city.
For example, the Pigeon Park Street Market
gives local residents a safe, permitted
space to sell recycled and reclaimed goods,
“It’s one of our key goals to see that jobs,
reliable income and opportunities are at hand
for our neighbours in need,” says Johnstone.
Alexandra Paproski
An everyday angel in our neighbourhood
and experience but really, building hope for economic prosperity for the whole community.”
PAGE 5
Hope
work being done by Portage Keremeos at The
Crossing that she decided to return to school
for her master’s degree in clinical counselling.
Last spring, Alexandra moved to Penticton to
run the family counselling clinic at Penticton
and District Community Resources Society.
Shortly after, she received a call from Diane
Power-Jeans, the director of Portage Keremeos
at The Crossing, who was looking for a clinical
counsellor and wondered if Alexandra could
make a recommendation.
By sharing her many gifts, Alexandra
Paproski has come full circle as a donor
and volunteer with Central City Foundation.
“I said, ‘Yeah, me!’” Alexandra recalls.
She began facilitating weekly counselling
groups and individual sessions at the centre,
and marvelled at the wonderful circularity
that carried her back to the program she
helped build.
In 2005, Alexandra left a corporate job and
wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life.
She’d planned lots of events in the business
world, so when Central City Foundation CEO
Jennifer Johnstone asked if she’d be willing to
plan a community picnic celebrating our 100th
anniversary of helping neighbours in need,
Alexandra leapt at the opportunity. With her
wings firmly attached, she planned the first Fair
in the Square on what would have been her late
father’s 80th birthday – and asked him for a
little bit of help with the forecast.
“After my first session with the kids, it was
quite incredible to walk outside of the dining
room and to see my name [on the donor wall],”
she says. “I just couldn’t believe that I’d been
brought back to this place for a completely
different reason, and was actually doing the
work that I had helped raise money to do.”
“I asked for good weather and we got it from
a very strong spirit, and it hasn’t rained since
at Fair in the Square,” she says. Fair in the
Square has grown to be an annual community
celebration, with live music, and a free
barbecue lunch that feeds some 2,000 inner
city neighbours each spring.
“The work I do is minute compared to the work
that has been done for over 100 years,” she
says. “I’ve gotten way more in terms of gifts
from Central City Foundation, from these kids,
from the amazing community partners, the
donors, the volunteers, all the people I’ve met.
My heart runneth over with the love that I have
been given.”
That sunny day eight years ago also launched
the next phase of Alexandra’s career. She
realized her gift of bringing people together,
and began a successful event planning
business, arranging several more events for
CCF and others.
“Central City Foundation’s donors are helping our neighbours to find work and earn income, building skills
CCF Donors
Building
Alexandra never imagined the sharp turn her life
would take after she was asked to join CCF’s
fundraising campaign committee to build The
Crossing, British Columbia’s first and only long
term residential addictions treatment centre
for youth. Through Alexandra’s hard work and
dedication, a quarter of a million dollars was
raised towards the campaign. But she also
found herself so inspired and captivated by the
Alexandra gets teary when she thinks about
how her involvement with CCF has enriched
her life, inspired personal growth and revealed
the gifts she has to give to the world.
Alexandra points out that any gift - whether
it’s money, time, or talent – can produce
exponential rewards. “Give whatever resources
you have, because you’re going to get way
more than you give,” she urges.
“The wonderful thing about
Central City Foundation is you see
with your own eyes the transformation that
happens. You can plant a tiny little dollar, and
watch it grow. I planted a little something,
it grew and all of a sudden on the table it was
an abundant feast in front of me.”
PAGE 6
Central
CityN E W S
www.centralcityfoundation.ca
A PROMISING leave a legacy
FUTURE of caring
HOW A GIFT IN YOUR WILL
can transform lives…
FALL 2013
Oaxaca Studio.com • Graphic Design
Caring for people
since 1907
Ch a r i t a ble Number B N 13 4 6 3 9 5 5 8 R R 0 0 0 1
When you include a gift in your Will
to Central City Foundation you will
be helping to ensure that the most
vulnerable people in the inner city will
receive the support they need in the
future. Your legacy will not only give inner
city residents the resources they need
to improve the quality of their lives, it will
also enable us to fund the most creative
and effective organizations and programs
in the inner city.
By joining A Promising Future you
will help to build a legacy of caring, a
community of hope, for people who live
in Vancouver’s harshest streets.
A gift in your Will doesn’t have to be
large to make a difference. Just a small
percentage of the residue of your estate
will give a better life to people living in
need in the inner city.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON A PROMISING FUTURE,
please contact us at 604-683-2263
or by email at jennifer.johnstone@
centralcityfoundation.ca
A chance to work
rebuilds lives
Central City Foundation donors are helping transform
our community by creating jobs and building economic
vitality in the inner city, enabling our neighbours to build
hope and grow a stronger neighbourhood.
YOUR DONATIONS built a place where
youth can recover from addiction
and build hope for their future
Completed by Central City Foundation in 2009, The
Crossing is home to the Portage Keremeos program,
providing the only long-term residential treatment
for youth challenged by addiction in BC. A survey
of graduates for the past three years shows some
remarkable results: more than 85% of the young
people who have completed the residential program
remain abstinent and are enrolled in school!
“Like all of us, people in the inner city want
to make a better life for themselves and their
families,” says Jennifer Johnstone, President
and CEO of Central City Foundation. “The
more opportunities we can provide for people,
the more chance they have of succeeding.”
Many of Central City Foundation’s community
partners are social enterprises that provide
flexible jobs for people facing tremendously
challenging barriers to employment, such as
mental illness, disability, unstable housing and
addiction, much of which is a result of past
abuse and trauma and the tragic aftermath of
residential schools.
➊ EMBERS Green Renovations
➋ Keeners Car Wash
➌ Potluck Café and Catering l
➍ Tradeworks Custom Wood Products
➎ Sole Food Farms
“They get guys working, build that self-esteem,
start putting some money in their pocket and
get them integrated back into society.”
Derrick Bruneau, employee at EMBERS
“Our donors are funding programs that create
jobs where there were none and create flexible
jobs and training opportunities for those
struggling with barriers,” says Johnstone.
Central City Foundation invests in innovative
social enterprises that can have a big impact
on improving lives. We look for solid business
plans, great ideas and the expertise to bring
those ideas to life. In many situations, Central
City is the only capital funder, taking a risk
on these non-profits and giving them the
essential funds they need to either get their
business off the ground, or take it to the next
level. “We want to get these organizations to
where they need to be to create those jobs
and be sustainable over time,” says Johnstone.
Thanks to our donors, we recently invested in
organizations like Tradeworks Custom Wood
Products, EMBERS Green Renovations,
Sole Food Farms, Keeners Car Wash and
Potluck Café and Catering. They all provide
jobs, skills training and other employment
supports to help our neighbours get back to
the working world.
Continues on page 5 ➤
➤ Continued from COVER
For example, EMBERS Green Renovations
has created jobs for local residents who have
trade skills and talent, including people facing
social and economic barriers, giving them the
chance to use their skills and improve their
lives. CCF donors recently helped EMBERS
buy a new work van to help them offer
general contracting services using socially
responsible labour and environmentallyfriendly building and recycling practices.
Derrick Bruneau has been employed full time
at EMBERS for two months, working on a
roofing project, doing cedar siding, painting
and a kitchen renovation. Derrick says he
learns something new every day.
“It’s tough for guys like me with a shady past
to find work,” says Derrick, a recovering
alcoholic. “They get guys working, build that
self-esteem, start putting some money in their
pocket and get them integrated back into
society. I have seen changes in people here.
I’ve seen success in only a short time.”
Another social enterprise CCF donors
support is Potluck Café and Catering. Since
2001, a key component of Potluck Café’s
mission has been to provide training, skills
and jobs to Downtown Eastside residents
who face multiple barriers to employment.
Employees gain on-the-job training at
Potluck’s neighbourhood café on West
Hastings, where they prepare and serve
food for the organization’s corporate catering
clients.
The most recent grant from Central City
Foundation helped Potluck Café replace its
aging delivery van and purchase catering
equipment like platters, dishes and baskets
that will allow the non-profit to remain
competitive and keep their staff working.
“Central City’s commitment to the inner city
and the Downtown Eastside is very high,” says
Potluck CEO Heather O’Hara. “They are not
afraid to invest in social enterprises.
It’s not just charity, but really investing their
money in ways that the organizations
themselves can leverage and do more with it.”
while facilitating micro-entrepreneurialism,
economic independence and empowerment.
Central City Foundation has supported the
market from its inception, and a recent grant
to purchase tents, carts, tables, canopies and
cleaning supplies will significantly improve
the atmosphere and family friendliness of
the market. With about 150 vendors each
week, earning anywhere from a few dollars to
fifty dollars, the Market is generating about
$500,000 in economic impact in the inner
city each year!
“We’re creating an environment that allows
the money to flow,” says Roland Clarke, one
of the market’s coordinators and a vendor
himself. “People feel like they are participating
in something. Everybody is building this
market together.”
Some residents of the inner city need a lot
of flexibility to be able to work to the best of
their abilities. With help from Central City
Foundation donors, organizations like Mission
Possible, United We Can, Megaphone and
the Pigeon Park Street Market are able to
facilitate the entrepreneurial spirit of inner city
residents, giving them the tools and freedom
they need to create their own income.
Megaphone has 175 street vendors around
the city selling the annual Hope in Shadows
calendar and Megaphone Magazine. This
year, Central City Foundation donors helped
the organization purchase essential gear for
their vendors in Vancouver’s rainy outdoor
climate, including raincoats, waterproof bags
and umbrellas. The vendors work as much as
they are able and create a visible presence of
the economic vitality available in the inner city.
For example, the Pigeon Park Street Market
gives local residents a safe, permitted
space to sell recycled and reclaimed goods,
“It’s one of our key goals to see that jobs,
reliable income and opportunities are at hand
for our neighbours in need,” says Johnstone.
Alexandra Paproski
An everyday angel in our neighbourhood
and experience but really, building hope for economic prosperity for the whole community.”
PAGE 5
Hope
work being done by Portage Keremeos at The
Crossing that she decided to return to school
for her master’s degree in clinical counselling.
Last spring, Alexandra moved to Penticton to
run the family counselling clinic at Penticton
and District Community Resources Society.
Shortly after, she received a call from Diane
Power-Jeans, the director of Portage Keremeos
at The Crossing, who was looking for a clinical
counsellor and wondered if Alexandra could
make a recommendation.
By sharing her many gifts, Alexandra
Paproski has come full circle as a donor
and volunteer with Central City Foundation.
“I said, ‘Yeah, me!’” Alexandra recalls.
She began facilitating weekly counselling
groups and individual sessions at the centre,
and marvelled at the wonderful circularity
that carried her back to the program she
helped build.
In 2005, Alexandra left a corporate job and
wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life.
She’d planned lots of events in the business
world, so when Central City Foundation CEO
Jennifer Johnstone asked if she’d be willing to
plan a community picnic celebrating our 100th
anniversary of helping neighbours in need,
Alexandra leapt at the opportunity. With her
wings firmly attached, she planned the first Fair
in the Square on what would have been her late
father’s 80th birthday – and asked him for a
little bit of help with the forecast.
“After my first session with the kids, it was
quite incredible to walk outside of the dining
room and to see my name [on the donor wall],”
she says. “I just couldn’t believe that I’d been
brought back to this place for a completely
different reason, and was actually doing the
work that I had helped raise money to do.”
“I asked for good weather and we got it from
a very strong spirit, and it hasn’t rained since
at Fair in the Square,” she says. Fair in the
Square has grown to be an annual community
celebration, with live music, and a free
barbecue lunch that feeds some 2,000 inner
city neighbours each spring.
“The work I do is minute compared to the work
that has been done for over 100 years,” she
says. “I’ve gotten way more in terms of gifts
from Central City Foundation, from these kids,
from the amazing community partners, the
donors, the volunteers, all the people I’ve met.
My heart runneth over with the love that I have
been given.”
That sunny day eight years ago also launched
the next phase of Alexandra’s career. She
realized her gift of bringing people together,
and began a successful event planning
business, arranging several more events for
CCF and others.
“Central City Foundation’s donors are helping our neighbours to find work and earn income, building skills
CCF Donors
Building
Alexandra never imagined the sharp turn her life
would take after she was asked to join CCF’s
fundraising campaign committee to build The
Crossing, British Columbia’s first and only long
term residential addictions treatment centre
for youth. Through Alexandra’s hard work and
dedication, a quarter of a million dollars was
raised towards the campaign. But she also
found herself so inspired and captivated by the
Alexandra gets teary when she thinks about
how her involvement with CCF has enriched
her life, inspired personal growth and revealed
the gifts she has to give to the world.
Alexandra points out that any gift - whether
it’s money, time, or talent – can produce
exponential rewards. “Give whatever resources
you have, because you’re going to get way
more than you give,” she urges.
“The wonderful thing about
Central City Foundation is you see
with your own eyes the transformation that
happens. You can plant a tiny little dollar, and
watch it grow. I planted a little something,
it grew and all of a sudden on the table it was
an abundant feast in front of me.”
PAGE 6
Central
CityN E W S
www.centralcityfoundation.ca
A PROMISING leave a legacy
FUTURE of caring
HOW A GIFT IN YOUR WILL
can transform lives…
FALL 2013
Oaxaca Studio.com • Graphic Design
Caring for people
since 1907
Ch a r i t a ble Number B N 13 4 6 3 9 5 5 8 R R 0 0 0 1
When you include a gift in your Will
to Central City Foundation you will
be helping to ensure that the most
vulnerable people in the inner city will
receive the support they need in the
future. Your legacy will not only give inner
city residents the resources they need
to improve the quality of their lives, it will
also enable us to fund the most creative
and effective organizations and programs
in the inner city.
By joining A Promising Future you
will help to build a legacy of caring, a
community of hope, for people who live
in Vancouver’s harshest streets.
A gift in your Will doesn’t have to be
large to make a difference. Just a small
percentage of the residue of your estate
will give a better life to people living in
need in the inner city.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON A PROMISING FUTURE,
please contact us at 604-683-2263
or by email at jennifer.johnstone@
centralcityfoundation.ca
A chance to work
rebuilds lives
Central City Foundation donors are helping transform
our community by creating jobs and building economic
vitality in the inner city, enabling our neighbours to build
hope and grow a stronger neighbourhood.
YOUR DONATIONS built a place where
youth can recover from addiction
and build hope for their future
Completed by Central City Foundation in 2009, The
Crossing is home to the Portage Keremeos program,
providing the only long-term residential treatment
for youth challenged by addiction in BC. A survey
of graduates for the past three years shows some
remarkable results: more than 85% of the young
people who have completed the residential program
remain abstinent and are enrolled in school!
“Like all of us, people in the inner city want
to make a better life for themselves and their
families,” says Jennifer Johnstone, President
and CEO of Central City Foundation. “The
more opportunities we can provide for people,
the more chance they have of succeeding.”
Many of Central City Foundation’s community
partners are social enterprises that provide
flexible jobs for people facing tremendously
challenging barriers to employment, such as
mental illness, disability, unstable housing and
addiction, much of which is a result of past
abuse and trauma and the tragic aftermath of
residential schools.
➊ EMBERS Green Renovations
➋ Keeners Car Wash
➌ Potluck Café and Catering l
➍ Tradeworks Custom Wood Products
➎ Sole Food Farms
“They get guys working, build that self-esteem,
start putting some money in their pocket and
get them integrated back into society.”
Derrick Bruneau, employee at EMBERS
“Our donors are funding programs that create
jobs where there were none and create flexible
jobs and training opportunities for those
struggling with barriers,” says Johnstone.
Central City Foundation invests in innovative
social enterprises that can have a big impact
on improving lives. We look for solid business
plans, great ideas and the expertise to bring
those ideas to life. In many situations, Central
City is the only capital funder, taking a risk
on these non-profits and giving them the
essential funds they need to either get their
business off the ground, or take it to the next
level. “We want to get these organizations to
where they need to be to create those jobs
and be sustainable over time,” says Johnstone.
Thanks to our donors, we recently invested in
organizations like Tradeworks Custom Wood
Products, EMBERS Green Renovations,
Sole Food Farms, Keeners Car Wash and
Potluck Café and Catering. They all provide
jobs, skills training and other employment
supports to help our neighbours get back to
the working world.
Continues on page 5 ➤
Meeting the urgent needs of inner city residents
Prevention focused on children, youth & families
Your generosity allowed Central City Foundation to help our partners tackle urgent needs that help
our neighbours improve lives and build hope.
Your donations make it possible for Central City Foundation to fund programs that improve
the lives of our neighbours, including children, youth, seniors and families.
reorganize workspace to
maximize efficiencies and improve
Downtown Eastside
Women’s Centre
programming space.
The heart of the Downtown
Eastside Women’s Centre is the
daily meal program and drop-in
centre serving more than 300
women each day. Grant money
from CCF was used to purchase
kitchen equipment to increase
the centre’s capacity to provide
security and basic needs to
women living in extreme poverty.
McLaren Housing Society
housing for people with
HIV/AIDS
Helmcken House, owned and
operated by McLaren Housing
Society, provides subsidized
housing to individuals with
HIV/AIDS and hosts a small
head office for the society. The
Coast Mental Health
downtown resource centre
Many of the clients at Coast
Mental Health have no access to
cooking facilities, nor can they
afford to purchase meals, so they
often go hungry. A grant from
CCF allowed Coast to purchase
a new convection oven to help
the centre serve 250 meals a day,
seven days a week.
The Dugout Drop-in Centre
The Dugout is the only soup
kitchen serving breakfast seven
days a week primarily to residents
of local SRO hotels and shelters,
where they can access a host
of additional supports including
outreach, advocacy, one-toone counselling and a daily AA
program. CCF’s support provides
operational funding to enable the
Dugout to help 700 people a day
with support, food, friendship and
relief from their isolation.
Atira Women’s Resource
Society hospice care
Atira’s Bridge Housing will provide
eight new units of long-term
transitional housing and access to
Kiwassa
Neighbourhood House
The playground at Kiwassa Variety
Daycare, which serves children
ages 3-5 and the local community,
had a consistent problem with
drainage where large pools
of water gathered after any
extended rainfall, making it unsafe
for the children. A grant from
CCF allowed Kiwassa to install
drainage pipes and resurface the
playground area. PHOTO
basement is in dire need of
renovation, and thanks to a grant
from CCF, it will happen quickly
so the society can expand with
a new site nearby to serve an
additional 125 residents coming
A grant from CCF allowed Coast Mental Health
downtown resource centre to purchase a new convection oven
to help the centre serve 250 meals a day, seven days a week.
basic supports as well as womencentered health care for women
who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness and facing serious
health challenges, including HIV/
AIDS, lung disease, congestive
heart failure, Hepatitis C and other
poverty related illnesses. CCF’s
grant will fund renovations and
provide necessary equity leverage
for financing.
Immigrants Services
Society of BC immigrant
welcome centre
Welcome House Centre will be a
new facility in Vancouver providing
a fully integrated service hub to
address the immediate needs of
refugees and immigrants. This will
include 98 bedrooms for short
term and transitional housing for
refugees, who are the group most
at-risk of homelessness in our
city. The grant from CCF will fund
renovations and is a key factor in
securing the land lease from the
City of Vancouver, and leveraging
the final private capital required to
complete the project.
from shelters and SROs.
The DTES Neighbourhood
House provides educational,
leadership, social and recreational
opportunities to improve the
quality of life of the most socially
and economically vulnerable
inner city residents. The grant
from CCF enabled them to
purchase new furniture and
PAGE 2
Located in southeast Vancouver,
the Fraserview Club has a
membership of nearly 500
The Writers’ Exchange
This program provides a safe
place after school for children
to complete their homework and
creative writing projects with
volunteer mentors, serving almost
600 inner city kids ages 5 to
18. With plans to expand to a
second space on East Hastings
Street, the grant from CCF
provides money for furnishings
and equipment for the children’s
workspace in the new Writers’
Exchange centre. PHOTO
Fir Square at BC Women’s
Hospital & Health Centre
BC Women’s Fir Square Program
is one of only a few inpatient
programs in the world caring for
substance-using women and their
newborns. Women entering this
program come from a background
of poverty, poor education and
most are homeless. CCF’s grant
will help create a new kitchen
within the Fir Square Maternity
Unit, which will be used to launch
a food and nutritional educational
program.
Purple Thistle
The Purple Thistle is a youth-run
drop-in arts and community centre
in the Strathcona industrial area
offering free access to shared
equipment and supplies including
a dark room and silk-screening
equipment to about 200 at-risk
inner city youth aged 15-25 each
year. Programming includes
a variety of art, skills and job
readiness programs for young
men and women. The grant from
CCF was used to buy camera
equipment for a pilot photography
project for young women focused
on life skills, leadership and
photography skills. PHOTO
■
Gordon Neighbourhood
House food security
Gordon Neighbourhood House
runs about 20 active programs
in the West End serving almost
10,000 individuals, including a
growing population of vulnerable,
low-income seniors, new
immigrants and refugees, as
well as single parent families,
unemployed adults and street-
DTES
Neighbourhood House
Boys & Girls Clubs
Fraserview Club
children from the surrounding
diverse neighbourhood of lowincome and single-parent families.
The club’s kitchen serves 150
children every day with cooking
and nutrition programs, snack
programs and hot meals for
children who may not receive
nutritious food throughout the day.
A grant from CCF was used to
upgrade their aging kitchen with a
new freezer, sinks and lighting.
involved youth. The grant
from CCF to purchase indoor
planters, industrial blenders and
a commercial dishwasher allows
them to implement food security
programs, including community
meals, urban gardening and
healthy food production and
preparation.
■
Celebrating improvements to women’s safe access to health and wellness
Building
HOMES AND HOPE
in the inner city
“For our neighbours who might be
struggling with employment barriers,
poverty, health problems, addictions, or
have simply fallen on some hard times,
finding safe and affordable housing
can be a seemingly insurmountable
challenge in our city,” says Central City
CEO Jennifer Johnstone.
To meet this urgent need, your donations
are invested in social purpose real
estate properties that provide housing
as well as capital grants to organizations
that are helping our neighbours find
homes and a step out of some of their
struggles.
Central City Foundation owns two
buildings in the Downtown Eastside, the
Abbott Mansion and the Cosmopolitan
Hotel, which offer affordable units to
nearly 150 residents, like David, who
has called the Abbott home for 11 years.
For more information please call:
604-683-2263
or email:
[email protected]
Growing up, Shenee bounced around
more than 30 foster homes before
coming to Aunt Leah’s. Fifteen years old
and pregnant, Shenee was reluctant,
guarded and distrustful, but she was
desperate to keep her baby. She
recognized she didn’t know much about
parenting, and the staff at Aunt Leah’s
taught her the skills she needed to keep
her daughter healthy and safe.
She developed meaningful bonds with
staff members, who Shenee considers
her family. “If it wasn’t for Aunt Leah’s,
I really don’t know where I’d be right
now,” she says.
A tira C ontainer H ousing
CCF CEO Jennifer Johnstone proudly shows off the
brand new 12-unit social housing development built
from a base structure of recycled shipping containers
by Atira Women’s Resource Society with the help
of Central City Foundation donors. The building
provides 12 social housing units for older women who
act as mentors to the young women living next door
in Atira’s Imouto House program. Imouto, which has
also benefited from the generosity of CCF donors, is
a supportive housing development created for young
women who are homeless or in tremendously unsafe
housing situations in the inner city.
Your donations also support housing for
our neighbours by offering capital grants
to organizations that are trying to create
innovative solutions. Your generosity
plays an important role in the increasingly
complex mix of funding and financing
that our community partners require to
bring their projects to life.
While David has lived in other housing
developments, he says the Abbott is the
best housing he’s ever had. “I enjoy the
clean environment, the feeling of safety, and the sense of community
among the residents,” he says.
In some cases, Central City is the first
funder to contribute money to a project,
which gives credibility and leverages
contributions from larger institutions.
For example, after we recently gave a grant to renovate Powell
Place shelter for women, they were able to then move forward and
raise ten times that amount in the community.
An expert binner, David’s apartment is filled with finds that he has
collected and refurbished, including more than half a dozen large,
bright green plants that he nurtured back to life. His binning skills
are renowned throughout the building. David is happy to source and
repair items for his neighbours, a generosity he says springs from
his core security of having a wonderful place to live.
“The money our donors help us contribute is really important to
securing other funds,” Johnstone says. “Other donors and funders
in the community look to Central City Foundation to identify good
projects and organizations they too can trust with their donations.”
Shenee, a young mother of three, also found more than a safe
home when she came to stay at Aunt Leah’s Threshold House –
she found a family. Central City Foundation donors have helped
Aunt Leah’s furnish suites like the one where Shenee stayed, and
contributed equipment to run their support services. Your donations
are also invested in Aunt Leah’s ETC. in New Westminster, a
new multi-purpose building owned by CCF in which Aunt Leah’s
provides homes to young mothers, vocational training for youth, and
In other instances, Central City Foundation is one of the last funders
to come on board, giving organizations the money they need to
complete their housing developments. A recent grant to Atira
afforded them the last piece of equity they needed to renovate their
Bridge Housing for Women.
Central City Foundation is constantly on the lookout for
new opportunities to expand housing availability to those who are
in need. And when we’re building from the bricks up, every dollar
has an impact and helps us build our community of hope.
206 – 304 W. CORDOVA ST. VANCOUVER BC V6B 1E8
PAGE 3
contains a thrift store of interesting and
inexpensive finds.
“It’s very easy to fall down when you
have no support, when you have nobody
to help you,” she says. “Aunt Leah’s was
that stepping stone for me to learn how
to become a responsible mother.”
“I’ve built a home here,” he says. “When I open this door, I feel a
feeling of refuge and respite. I’ve been spoiled living here.”
Central City Foundation
marked International Women’s Day this past
March by celebrating the collaborations your donations helped bring about in a
centre for women’s health and well being in the Downtown Eastside. Central City
Foundation offered subsidized space on the main floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel
and brought together the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, BC Women’s
Hospital & Health Centre and Battered Women’s Support Services to use the
space to offer programs such as access to nurse practitioners, a resource centre,
wellness services like yoga and art therapy, as well as serving as home base for a
crisis support program for women who experience abuse or assault.
The crisis of homelessness and lack
of affordable housing in our inner city
continue to be critical issues for Central
City Foundation. Helping our neighbours
in need find a safe and affordable place
to live has been a priority for us since
we built the first Central City Mission in
1910. Today, with the help of our donors,
we continue to invest in innovative
housing solutions that are building hope
for our neighbours in need.
PAGE 4
Meeting the urgent needs of inner city residents
Prevention focused on children, youth & families
Your generosity allowed Central City Foundation to help our partners tackle urgent needs that help
our neighbours improve lives and build hope.
Your donations make it possible for Central City Foundation to fund programs that improve
the lives of our neighbours, including children, youth, seniors and families.
reorganize workspace to
maximize efficiencies and improve
Downtown Eastside
Women’s Centre
programming space.
The heart of the Downtown
Eastside Women’s Centre is the
daily meal program and drop-in
centre serving more than 300
women each day. Grant money
from CCF was used to purchase
kitchen equipment to increase
the centre’s capacity to provide
security and basic needs to
women living in extreme poverty.
McLaren Housing Society
housing for people with
HIV/AIDS
Helmcken House, owned and
operated by McLaren Housing
Society, provides subsidized
housing to individuals with
HIV/AIDS and hosts a small
head office for the society. The
Coast Mental Health
downtown resource centre
Many of the clients at Coast
Mental Health have no access to
cooking facilities, nor can they
afford to purchase meals, so they
often go hungry. A grant from
CCF allowed Coast to purchase
a new convection oven to help
the centre serve 250 meals a day,
seven days a week.
The Dugout Drop-in Centre
The Dugout is the only soup
kitchen serving breakfast seven
days a week primarily to residents
of local SRO hotels and shelters,
where they can access a host
of additional supports including
outreach, advocacy, one-toone counselling and a daily AA
program. CCF’s support provides
operational funding to enable the
Dugout to help 700 people a day
with support, food, friendship and
relief from their isolation.
Atira Women’s Resource
Society hospice care
Atira’s Bridge Housing will provide
eight new units of long-term
transitional housing and access to
Kiwassa
Neighbourhood House
The playground at Kiwassa Variety
Daycare, which serves children
ages 3-5 and the local community,
had a consistent problem with
drainage where large pools
of water gathered after any
extended rainfall, making it unsafe
for the children. A grant from
CCF allowed Kiwassa to install
drainage pipes and resurface the
playground area. PHOTO
basement is in dire need of
renovation, and thanks to a grant
from CCF, it will happen quickly
so the society can expand with
a new site nearby to serve an
additional 125 residents coming
A grant from CCF allowed Coast Mental Health
downtown resource centre to purchase a new convection oven
to help the centre serve 250 meals a day, seven days a week.
basic supports as well as womencentered health care for women
who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness and facing serious
health challenges, including HIV/
AIDS, lung disease, congestive
heart failure, Hepatitis C and other
poverty related illnesses. CCF’s
grant will fund renovations and
provide necessary equity leverage
for financing.
Immigrants Services
Society of BC immigrant
welcome centre
Welcome House Centre will be a
new facility in Vancouver providing
a fully integrated service hub to
address the immediate needs of
refugees and immigrants. This will
include 98 bedrooms for short
term and transitional housing for
refugees, who are the group most
at-risk of homelessness in our
city. The grant from CCF will fund
renovations and is a key factor in
securing the land lease from the
City of Vancouver, and leveraging
the final private capital required to
complete the project.
from shelters and SROs.
The DTES Neighbourhood
House provides educational,
leadership, social and recreational
opportunities to improve the
quality of life of the most socially
and economically vulnerable
inner city residents. The grant
from CCF enabled them to
purchase new furniture and
PAGE 2
Located in southeast Vancouver,
the Fraserview Club has a
membership of nearly 500
The Writers’ Exchange
This program provides a safe
place after school for children
to complete their homework and
creative writing projects with
volunteer mentors, serving almost
600 inner city kids ages 5 to
18. With plans to expand to a
second space on East Hastings
Street, the grant from CCF
provides money for furnishings
and equipment for the children’s
workspace in the new Writers’
Exchange centre. PHOTO
Fir Square at BC Women’s
Hospital & Health Centre
BC Women’s Fir Square Program
is one of only a few inpatient
programs in the world caring for
substance-using women and their
newborns. Women entering this
program come from a background
of poverty, poor education and
most are homeless. CCF’s grant
will help create a new kitchen
within the Fir Square Maternity
Unit, which will be used to launch
a food and nutritional educational
program.
Purple Thistle
The Purple Thistle is a youth-run
drop-in arts and community centre
in the Strathcona industrial area
offering free access to shared
equipment and supplies including
a dark room and silk-screening
equipment to about 200 at-risk
inner city youth aged 15-25 each
year. Programming includes
a variety of art, skills and job
readiness programs for young
men and women. The grant from
CCF was used to buy camera
equipment for a pilot photography
project for young women focused
on life skills, leadership and
photography skills. PHOTO
■
Gordon Neighbourhood
House food security
Gordon Neighbourhood House
runs about 20 active programs
in the West End serving almost
10,000 individuals, including a
growing population of vulnerable,
low-income seniors, new
immigrants and refugees, as
well as single parent families,
unemployed adults and street-
DTES
Neighbourhood House
Boys & Girls Clubs
Fraserview Club
children from the surrounding
diverse neighbourhood of lowincome and single-parent families.
The club’s kitchen serves 150
children every day with cooking
and nutrition programs, snack
programs and hot meals for
children who may not receive
nutritious food throughout the day.
A grant from CCF was used to
upgrade their aging kitchen with a
new freezer, sinks and lighting.
involved youth. The grant
from CCF to purchase indoor
planters, industrial blenders and
a commercial dishwasher allows
them to implement food security
programs, including community
meals, urban gardening and
healthy food production and
preparation.
■
Celebrating improvements to women’s safe access to health and wellness
Building
HOMES AND HOPE
in the inner city
“For our neighbours who might be
struggling with employment barriers,
poverty, health problems, addictions, or
have simply fallen on some hard times,
finding safe and affordable housing
can be a seemingly insurmountable
challenge in our city,” says Central City
CEO Jennifer Johnstone.
To meet this urgent need, your donations
are invested in social purpose real
estate properties that provide housing
as well as capital grants to organizations
that are helping our neighbours find
homes and a step out of some of their
struggles.
Central City Foundation owns two
buildings in the Downtown Eastside, the
Abbott Mansion and the Cosmopolitan
Hotel, which offer affordable units to
nearly 150 residents, like David, who
has called the Abbott home for 11 years.
For more information please call:
604-683-2263
or email:
[email protected]
Growing up, Shenee bounced around
more than 30 foster homes before
coming to Aunt Leah’s. Fifteen years old
and pregnant, Shenee was reluctant,
guarded and distrustful, but she was
desperate to keep her baby. She
recognized she didn’t know much about
parenting, and the staff at Aunt Leah’s
taught her the skills she needed to keep
her daughter healthy and safe.
She developed meaningful bonds with
staff members, who Shenee considers
her family. “If it wasn’t for Aunt Leah’s,
I really don’t know where I’d be right
now,” she says.
A tira C ontainer H ousing
CCF CEO Jennifer Johnstone proudly shows off the
brand new 12-unit social housing development built
from a base structure of recycled shipping containers
by Atira Women’s Resource Society with the help
of Central City Foundation donors. The building
provides 12 social housing units for older women who
act as mentors to the young women living next door
in Atira’s Imouto House program. Imouto, which has
also benefited from the generosity of CCF donors, is
a supportive housing development created for young
women who are homeless or in tremendously unsafe
housing situations in the inner city.
Your donations also support housing for
our neighbours by offering capital grants
to organizations that are trying to create
innovative solutions. Your generosity
plays an important role in the increasingly
complex mix of funding and financing
that our community partners require to
bring their projects to life.
While David has lived in other housing
developments, he says the Abbott is the
best housing he’s ever had. “I enjoy the
clean environment, the feeling of safety, and the sense of community
among the residents,” he says.
In some cases, Central City is the first
funder to contribute money to a project,
which gives credibility and leverages
contributions from larger institutions.
For example, after we recently gave a grant to renovate Powell
Place shelter for women, they were able to then move forward and
raise ten times that amount in the community.
An expert binner, David’s apartment is filled with finds that he has
collected and refurbished, including more than half a dozen large,
bright green plants that he nurtured back to life. His binning skills
are renowned throughout the building. David is happy to source and
repair items for his neighbours, a generosity he says springs from
his core security of having a wonderful place to live.
“The money our donors help us contribute is really important to
securing other funds,” Johnstone says. “Other donors and funders
in the community look to Central City Foundation to identify good
projects and organizations they too can trust with their donations.”
Shenee, a young mother of three, also found more than a safe
home when she came to stay at Aunt Leah’s Threshold House –
she found a family. Central City Foundation donors have helped
Aunt Leah’s furnish suites like the one where Shenee stayed, and
contributed equipment to run their support services. Your donations
are also invested in Aunt Leah’s ETC. in New Westminster, a
new multi-purpose building owned by CCF in which Aunt Leah’s
provides homes to young mothers, vocational training for youth, and
In other instances, Central City Foundation is one of the last funders
to come on board, giving organizations the money they need to
complete their housing developments. A recent grant to Atira
afforded them the last piece of equity they needed to renovate their
Bridge Housing for Women.
Central City Foundation is constantly on the lookout for
new opportunities to expand housing availability to those who are
in need. And when we’re building from the bricks up, every dollar
has an impact and helps us build our community of hope.
206 – 304 W. CORDOVA ST. VANCOUVER BC V6B 1E8
PAGE 3
contains a thrift store of interesting and
inexpensive finds.
“It’s very easy to fall down when you
have no support, when you have nobody
to help you,” she says. “Aunt Leah’s was
that stepping stone for me to learn how
to become a responsible mother.”
“I’ve built a home here,” he says. “When I open this door, I feel a
feeling of refuge and respite. I’ve been spoiled living here.”
Central City Foundation
marked International Women’s Day this past
March by celebrating the collaborations your donations helped bring about in a
centre for women’s health and well being in the Downtown Eastside. Central City
Foundation offered subsidized space on the main floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel
and brought together the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, BC Women’s
Hospital & Health Centre and Battered Women’s Support Services to use the
space to offer programs such as access to nurse practitioners, a resource centre,
wellness services like yoga and art therapy, as well as serving as home base for a
crisis support program for women who experience abuse or assault.
The crisis of homelessness and lack
of affordable housing in our inner city
continue to be critical issues for Central
City Foundation. Helping our neighbours
in need find a safe and affordable place
to live has been a priority for us since
we built the first Central City Mission in
1910. Today, with the help of our donors,
we continue to invest in innovative
housing solutions that are building hope
for our neighbours in need.
PAGE 4
Meeting the urgent needs of inner city residents
Prevention focused on children, youth & families
Your generosity allowed Central City Foundation to help our partners tackle urgent needs that help
our neighbours improve lives and build hope.
Your donations make it possible for Central City Foundation to fund programs that improve
the lives of our neighbours, including children, youth, seniors and families.
reorganize workspace to
maximize efficiencies and improve
Downtown Eastside
Women’s Centre
programming space.
The heart of the Downtown
Eastside Women’s Centre is the
daily meal program and drop-in
centre serving more than 300
women each day. Grant money
from CCF was used to purchase
kitchen equipment to increase
the centre’s capacity to provide
security and basic needs to
women living in extreme poverty.
McLaren Housing Society
housing for people with
HIV/AIDS
Helmcken House, owned and
operated by McLaren Housing
Society, provides subsidized
housing to individuals with
HIV/AIDS and hosts a small
head office for the society. The
Coast Mental Health
downtown resource centre
Many of the clients at Coast
Mental Health have no access to
cooking facilities, nor can they
afford to purchase meals, so they
often go hungry. A grant from
CCF allowed Coast to purchase
a new convection oven to help
the centre serve 250 meals a day,
seven days a week.
The Dugout Drop-in Centre
The Dugout is the only soup
kitchen serving breakfast seven
days a week primarily to residents
of local SRO hotels and shelters,
where they can access a host
of additional supports including
outreach, advocacy, one-toone counselling and a daily AA
program. CCF’s support provides
operational funding to enable the
Dugout to help 700 people a day
with support, food, friendship and
relief from their isolation.
Atira Women’s Resource
Society hospice care
Atira’s Bridge Housing will provide
eight new units of long-term
transitional housing and access to
Kiwassa
Neighbourhood House
The playground at Kiwassa Variety
Daycare, which serves children
ages 3-5 and the local community,
had a consistent problem with
drainage where large pools
of water gathered after any
extended rainfall, making it unsafe
for the children. A grant from
CCF allowed Kiwassa to install
drainage pipes and resurface the
playground area. PHOTO
basement is in dire need of
renovation, and thanks to a grant
from CCF, it will happen quickly
so the society can expand with
a new site nearby to serve an
additional 125 residents coming
A grant from CCF allowed Coast Mental Health
downtown resource centre to purchase a new convection oven
to help the centre serve 250 meals a day, seven days a week.
basic supports as well as womencentered health care for women
who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness and facing serious
health challenges, including HIV/
AIDS, lung disease, congestive
heart failure, Hepatitis C and other
poverty related illnesses. CCF’s
grant will fund renovations and
provide necessary equity leverage
for financing.
Immigrants Services
Society of BC immigrant
welcome centre
Welcome House Centre will be a
new facility in Vancouver providing
a fully integrated service hub to
address the immediate needs of
refugees and immigrants. This will
include 98 bedrooms for short
term and transitional housing for
refugees, who are the group most
at-risk of homelessness in our
city. The grant from CCF will fund
renovations and is a key factor in
securing the land lease from the
City of Vancouver, and leveraging
the final private capital required to
complete the project.
from shelters and SROs.
The DTES Neighbourhood
House provides educational,
leadership, social and recreational
opportunities to improve the
quality of life of the most socially
and economically vulnerable
inner city residents. The grant
from CCF enabled them to
purchase new furniture and
PAGE 2
Located in southeast Vancouver,
the Fraserview Club has a
membership of nearly 500
The Writers’ Exchange
This program provides a safe
place after school for children
to complete their homework and
creative writing projects with
volunteer mentors, serving almost
600 inner city kids ages 5 to
18. With plans to expand to a
second space on East Hastings
Street, the grant from CCF
provides money for furnishings
and equipment for the children’s
workspace in the new Writers’
Exchange centre. PHOTO
Fir Square at BC Women’s
Hospital & Health Centre
BC Women’s Fir Square Program
is one of only a few inpatient
programs in the world caring for
substance-using women and their
newborns. Women entering this
program come from a background
of poverty, poor education and
most are homeless. CCF’s grant
will help create a new kitchen
within the Fir Square Maternity
Unit, which will be used to launch
a food and nutritional educational
program.
Purple Thistle
The Purple Thistle is a youth-run
drop-in arts and community centre
in the Strathcona industrial area
offering free access to shared
equipment and supplies including
a dark room and silk-screening
equipment to about 200 at-risk
inner city youth aged 15-25 each
year. Programming includes
a variety of art, skills and job
readiness programs for young
men and women. The grant from
CCF was used to buy camera
equipment for a pilot photography
project for young women focused
on life skills, leadership and
photography skills. PHOTO
■
Gordon Neighbourhood
House food security
Gordon Neighbourhood House
runs about 20 active programs
in the West End serving almost
10,000 individuals, including a
growing population of vulnerable,
low-income seniors, new
immigrants and refugees, as
well as single parent families,
unemployed adults and street-
DTES
Neighbourhood House
Boys & Girls Clubs
Fraserview Club
children from the surrounding
diverse neighbourhood of lowincome and single-parent families.
The club’s kitchen serves 150
children every day with cooking
and nutrition programs, snack
programs and hot meals for
children who may not receive
nutritious food throughout the day.
A grant from CCF was used to
upgrade their aging kitchen with a
new freezer, sinks and lighting.
involved youth. The grant
from CCF to purchase indoor
planters, industrial blenders and
a commercial dishwasher allows
them to implement food security
programs, including community
meals, urban gardening and
healthy food production and
preparation.
■
Celebrating improvements to women’s safe access to health and wellness
Building
HOMES AND HOPE
in the inner city
“For our neighbours who might be
struggling with employment barriers,
poverty, health problems, addictions, or
have simply fallen on some hard times,
finding safe and affordable housing
can be a seemingly insurmountable
challenge in our city,” says Central City
CEO Jennifer Johnstone.
To meet this urgent need, your donations
are invested in social purpose real
estate properties that provide housing
as well as capital grants to organizations
that are helping our neighbours find
homes and a step out of some of their
struggles.
Central City Foundation owns two
buildings in the Downtown Eastside, the
Abbott Mansion and the Cosmopolitan
Hotel, which offer affordable units to
nearly 150 residents, like David, who
has called the Abbott home for 11 years.
For more information please call:
604-683-2263
or email:
[email protected]
Growing up, Shenee bounced around
more than 30 foster homes before
coming to Aunt Leah’s. Fifteen years old
and pregnant, Shenee was reluctant,
guarded and distrustful, but she was
desperate to keep her baby. She
recognized she didn’t know much about
parenting, and the staff at Aunt Leah’s
taught her the skills she needed to keep
her daughter healthy and safe.
She developed meaningful bonds with
staff members, who Shenee considers
her family. “If it wasn’t for Aunt Leah’s,
I really don’t know where I’d be right
now,” she says.
A tira C ontainer H ousing
CCF CEO Jennifer Johnstone proudly shows off the
brand new 12-unit social housing development built
from a base structure of recycled shipping containers
by Atira Women’s Resource Society with the help
of Central City Foundation donors. The building
provides 12 social housing units for older women who
act as mentors to the young women living next door
in Atira’s Imouto House program. Imouto, which has
also benefited from the generosity of CCF donors, is
a supportive housing development created for young
women who are homeless or in tremendously unsafe
housing situations in the inner city.
Your donations also support housing for
our neighbours by offering capital grants
to organizations that are trying to create
innovative solutions. Your generosity
plays an important role in the increasingly
complex mix of funding and financing
that our community partners require to
bring their projects to life.
While David has lived in other housing
developments, he says the Abbott is the
best housing he’s ever had. “I enjoy the
clean environment, the feeling of safety, and the sense of community
among the residents,” he says.
In some cases, Central City is the first
funder to contribute money to a project,
which gives credibility and leverages
contributions from larger institutions.
For example, after we recently gave a grant to renovate Powell
Place shelter for women, they were able to then move forward and
raise ten times that amount in the community.
An expert binner, David’s apartment is filled with finds that he has
collected and refurbished, including more than half a dozen large,
bright green plants that he nurtured back to life. His binning skills
are renowned throughout the building. David is happy to source and
repair items for his neighbours, a generosity he says springs from
his core security of having a wonderful place to live.
“The money our donors help us contribute is really important to
securing other funds,” Johnstone says. “Other donors and funders
in the community look to Central City Foundation to identify good
projects and organizations they too can trust with their donations.”
Shenee, a young mother of three, also found more than a safe
home when she came to stay at Aunt Leah’s Threshold House –
she found a family. Central City Foundation donors have helped
Aunt Leah’s furnish suites like the one where Shenee stayed, and
contributed equipment to run their support services. Your donations
are also invested in Aunt Leah’s ETC. in New Westminster, a
new multi-purpose building owned by CCF in which Aunt Leah’s
provides homes to young mothers, vocational training for youth, and
In other instances, Central City Foundation is one of the last funders
to come on board, giving organizations the money they need to
complete their housing developments. A recent grant to Atira
afforded them the last piece of equity they needed to renovate their
Bridge Housing for Women.
Central City Foundation is constantly on the lookout for
new opportunities to expand housing availability to those who are
in need. And when we’re building from the bricks up, every dollar
has an impact and helps us build our community of hope.
206 – 304 W. CORDOVA ST. VANCOUVER BC V6B 1E8
PAGE 3
contains a thrift store of interesting and
inexpensive finds.
“It’s very easy to fall down when you
have no support, when you have nobody
to help you,” she says. “Aunt Leah’s was
that stepping stone for me to learn how
to become a responsible mother.”
“I’ve built a home here,” he says. “When I open this door, I feel a
feeling of refuge and respite. I’ve been spoiled living here.”
Central City Foundation
marked International Women’s Day this past
March by celebrating the collaborations your donations helped bring about in a
centre for women’s health and well being in the Downtown Eastside. Central City
Foundation offered subsidized space on the main floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel
and brought together the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, BC Women’s
Hospital & Health Centre and Battered Women’s Support Services to use the
space to offer programs such as access to nurse practitioners, a resource centre,
wellness services like yoga and art therapy, as well as serving as home base for a
crisis support program for women who experience abuse or assault.
The crisis of homelessness and lack
of affordable housing in our inner city
continue to be critical issues for Central
City Foundation. Helping our neighbours
in need find a safe and affordable place
to live has been a priority for us since
we built the first Central City Mission in
1910. Today, with the help of our donors,
we continue to invest in innovative
housing solutions that are building hope
for our neighbours in need.
PAGE 4
➤ Continued from COVER
For example, EMBERS Green Renovations
has created jobs for local residents who have
trade skills and talent, including people facing
social and economic barriers, giving them the
chance to use their skills and improve their
lives. CCF donors recently helped EMBERS
buy a new work van to help them offer
general contracting services using socially
responsible labour and environmentallyfriendly building and recycling practices.
Derrick Bruneau has been employed full time
at EMBERS for two months, working on a
roofing project, doing cedar siding, painting
and a kitchen renovation. Derrick says he
learns something new every day.
“It’s tough for guys like me with a shady past
to find work,” says Derrick, a recovering
alcoholic. “They get guys working, build that
self-esteem, start putting some money in their
pocket and get them integrated back into
society. I have seen changes in people here.
I’ve seen success in only a short time.”
Another social enterprise CCF donors
support is Potluck Café and Catering. Since
2001, a key component of Potluck Café’s
mission has been to provide training, skills
and jobs to Downtown Eastside residents
who face multiple barriers to employment.
Employees gain on-the-job training at
Potluck’s neighbourhood café on West
Hastings, where they prepare and serve
food for the organization’s corporate catering
clients.
The most recent grant from Central City
Foundation helped Potluck Café replace its
aging delivery van and purchase catering
equipment like platters, dishes and baskets
that will allow the non-profit to remain
competitive and keep their staff working.
“Central City’s commitment to the inner city
and the Downtown Eastside is very high,” says
Potluck CEO Heather O’Hara. “They are not
afraid to invest in social enterprises.
It’s not just charity, but really investing their
money in ways that the organizations
themselves can leverage and do more with it.”
while facilitating micro-entrepreneurialism,
economic independence and empowerment.
Central City Foundation has supported the
market from its inception, and a recent grant
to purchase tents, carts, tables, canopies and
cleaning supplies will significantly improve
the atmosphere and family friendliness of
the market. With about 150 vendors each
week, earning anywhere from a few dollars to
fifty dollars, the Market is generating about
$500,000 in economic impact in the inner
city each year!
“We’re creating an environment that allows
the money to flow,” says Roland Clarke, one
of the market’s coordinators and a vendor
himself. “People feel like they are participating
in something. Everybody is building this
market together.”
Some residents of the inner city need a lot
of flexibility to be able to work to the best of
their abilities. With help from Central City
Foundation donors, organizations like Mission
Possible, United We Can, Megaphone and
the Pigeon Park Street Market are able to
facilitate the entrepreneurial spirit of inner city
residents, giving them the tools and freedom
they need to create their own income.
Megaphone has 175 street vendors around
the city selling the annual Hope in Shadows
calendar and Megaphone Magazine. This
year, Central City Foundation donors helped
the organization purchase essential gear for
their vendors in Vancouver’s rainy outdoor
climate, including raincoats, waterproof bags
and umbrellas. The vendors work as much as
they are able and create a visible presence of
the economic vitality available in the inner city.
For example, the Pigeon Park Street Market
gives local residents a safe, permitted
space to sell recycled and reclaimed goods,
“It’s one of our key goals to see that jobs,
reliable income and opportunities are at hand
for our neighbours in need,” says Johnstone.
Alexandra Paproski
An everyday angel in our neighbourhood
and experience but really, building hope for economic prosperity for the whole community.”
PAGE 5
Hope
work being done by Portage Keremeos at The
Crossing that she decided to return to school
for her master’s degree in clinical counselling.
Last spring, Alexandra moved to Penticton to
run the family counselling clinic at Penticton
and District Community Resources Society.
Shortly after, she received a call from Diane
Power-Jeans, the director of Portage Keremeos
at The Crossing, who was looking for a clinical
counsellor and wondered if Alexandra could
make a recommendation.
By sharing her many gifts, Alexandra
Paproski has come full circle as a donor
and volunteer with Central City Foundation.
“I said, ‘Yeah, me!’” Alexandra recalls.
She began facilitating weekly counselling
groups and individual sessions at the centre,
and marvelled at the wonderful circularity
that carried her back to the program she
helped build.
In 2005, Alexandra left a corporate job and
wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life.
She’d planned lots of events in the business
world, so when Central City Foundation CEO
Jennifer Johnstone asked if she’d be willing to
plan a community picnic celebrating our 100th
anniversary of helping neighbours in need,
Alexandra leapt at the opportunity. With her
wings firmly attached, she planned the first Fair
in the Square on what would have been her late
father’s 80th birthday – and asked him for a
little bit of help with the forecast.
“After my first session with the kids, it was
quite incredible to walk outside of the dining
room and to see my name [on the donor wall],”
she says. “I just couldn’t believe that I’d been
brought back to this place for a completely
different reason, and was actually doing the
work that I had helped raise money to do.”
“I asked for good weather and we got it from
a very strong spirit, and it hasn’t rained since
at Fair in the Square,” she says. Fair in the
Square has grown to be an annual community
celebration, with live music, and a free
barbecue lunch that feeds some 2,000 inner
city neighbours each spring.
“The work I do is minute compared to the work
that has been done for over 100 years,” she
says. “I’ve gotten way more in terms of gifts
from Central City Foundation, from these kids,
from the amazing community partners, the
donors, the volunteers, all the people I’ve met.
My heart runneth over with the love that I have
been given.”
That sunny day eight years ago also launched
the next phase of Alexandra’s career. She
realized her gift of bringing people together,
and began a successful event planning
business, arranging several more events for
CCF and others.
“Central City Foundation’s donors are helping our neighbours to find work and earn income, building skills
CCF Donors
Building
Alexandra never imagined the sharp turn her life
would take after she was asked to join CCF’s
fundraising campaign committee to build The
Crossing, British Columbia’s first and only long
term residential addictions treatment centre
for youth. Through Alexandra’s hard work and
dedication, a quarter of a million dollars was
raised towards the campaign. But she also
found herself so inspired and captivated by the
Alexandra gets teary when she thinks about
how her involvement with CCF has enriched
her life, inspired personal growth and revealed
the gifts she has to give to the world.
Alexandra points out that any gift - whether
it’s money, time, or talent – can produce
exponential rewards. “Give whatever resources
you have, because you’re going to get way
more than you give,” she urges.
“The wonderful thing about
Central City Foundation is you see
with your own eyes the transformation that
happens. You can plant a tiny little dollar, and
watch it grow. I planted a little something,
it grew and all of a sudden on the table it was
an abundant feast in front of me.”
PAGE 6
Central
CityN E W S
www.centralcityfoundation.ca
A PROMISING leave a legacy
FUTURE of caring
HOW A GIFT IN YOUR WILL
can transform lives…
FALL 2013
Oaxaca Studio.com • Graphic Design
Caring for people
since 1907
Ch a r i t a ble Number B N 13 4 6 3 9 5 5 8 R R 0 0 0 1
When you include a gift in your Will
to Central City Foundation you will
be helping to ensure that the most
vulnerable people in the inner city will
receive the support they need in the
future. Your legacy will not only give inner
city residents the resources they need
to improve the quality of their lives, it will
also enable us to fund the most creative
and effective organizations and programs
in the inner city.
By joining A Promising Future you
will help to build a legacy of caring, a
community of hope, for people who live
in Vancouver’s harshest streets.
A gift in your Will doesn’t have to be
large to make a difference. Just a small
percentage of the residue of your estate
will give a better life to people living in
need in the inner city.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON A PROMISING FUTURE,
please contact us at 604-683-2263
or by email at jennifer.johnstone@
centralcityfoundation.ca
A chance to work
rebuilds lives
Central City Foundation donors are helping transform
our community by creating jobs and building economic
vitality in the inner city, enabling our neighbours to build
hope and grow a stronger neighbourhood.
YOUR DONATIONS built a place where
youth can recover from addiction
and build hope for their future
Completed by Central City Foundation in 2009, The
Crossing is home to the Portage Keremeos program,
providing the only long-term residential treatment
for youth challenged by addiction in BC. A survey
of graduates for the past three years shows some
remarkable results: more than 85% of the young
people who have completed the residential program
remain abstinent and are enrolled in school!
“Like all of us, people in the inner city want
to make a better life for themselves and their
families,” says Jennifer Johnstone, President
and CEO of Central City Foundation. “The
more opportunities we can provide for people,
the more chance they have of succeeding.”
Many of Central City Foundation’s community
partners are social enterprises that provide
flexible jobs for people facing tremendously
challenging barriers to employment, such as
mental illness, disability, unstable housing and
addiction, much of which is a result of past
abuse and trauma and the tragic aftermath of
residential schools.
➊ EMBERS Green Renovations
➋ Keeners Car Wash
➌ Potluck Café and Catering l
➍ Tradeworks Custom Wood Products
➎ Sole Food Farms
“They get guys working, build that self-esteem,
start putting some money in their pocket and
get them integrated back into society.”
Derrick Bruneau, employee at EMBERS
“Our donors are funding programs that create
jobs where there were none and create flexible
jobs and training opportunities for those
struggling with barriers,” says Johnstone.
Central City Foundation invests in innovative
social enterprises that can have a big impact
on improving lives. We look for solid business
plans, great ideas and the expertise to bring
those ideas to life. In many situations, Central
City is the only capital funder, taking a risk
on these non-profits and giving them the
essential funds they need to either get their
business off the ground, or take it to the next
level. “We want to get these organizations to
where they need to be to create those jobs
and be sustainable over time,” says Johnstone.
Thanks to our donors, we recently invested in
organizations like Tradeworks Custom Wood
Products, EMBERS Green Renovations,
Sole Food Farms, Keeners Car Wash and
Potluck Café and Catering. They all provide
jobs, skills training and other employment
supports to help our neighbours get back to
the working world.
Continues on page 5 ➤