Salvation Army Backpack & School Supplies Drive in Vancouver runs from August 1^st-September 15^th

Can you remember arriving for the first day of the school year, sitting down at your desk with your brand new pencils, crayons, notepads and a fancy new backpack, and feeling proud to have entered the next grade fully equipped to succeed?

Each September should present every child with a fresh start to a successful school year. Unfortunately, there are many families—even here in Vancouver—who simply can’t afford the steep cost of purchasing a long list of required school supplies for their children.

That’s where The Salvation Army comes in.

Every year in British Columbia, The Salvation Army provides thousands of children with a brand new backpack full of much-needed school supplies to start the year. And in the few years they have seen an increase in families coming for support.

“In the last two years, we have seen the demand increase for our backpack program almost twofold,” says Major Ken Ritson, Director of The Salvation Army Vancouver Family Services.

This year’s goal is to support 2000 kids with a brand new backpack full of all the necessary school supplies.

There are 2 ways you can help:

1. Drop off new school supplies and backpacks at Starbucks locations in Vancouver proper, and at Fitness Town locations throughout the lower mainland.

1. Make a financial donation at participating Staples locations in Greater Vancouver.

School Supplies Shopping List:

• 5 pens (assorted) • 400 sheets of paper • 3 binders • White-out • 4-6 Duotangs • Ruler • Highlighters • Glue stick • Pencils • Erasers

Extras:

• Markers • Geometry Set • Calculator

By Kerrie-Ann Schoenit – Maple Ridge News

Needy families in Maple Ridge are receiving a little extra help this September with back-to-school expenses.

The Salvation Army is handing out backpacks filled with new school supplies to underprivileged children.

There are many families who can’t afford the cost of purchasing the long list of required items for their children, said Darrell Pilgrim, director of The Caring Place Ministries at the Salvation Army.

“We would love to be able to provide them with everything, but this is the basics to get them started,” he said.

“Even if we can just cut down half that list we’re happy.”

The packs are stuffed with binders, exercise books, ruled looseleaf paper, pencils, pens, erasers, rulers and highlighters.

Supplies are handed out to parents on a walk-in basis.

For the last few years, the Salvation Army has supported hundreds of underprivileged children.

Over that time, Pilgrim said the need for supplies has increased similar to the reliance on other programs like community meals.

Last year, the Salvation Army distributed about 85 backpacks to families in this area. This year’s goal is to support at least 100 kids with new supplies.

“The whole project is about sharing hope,” Pilgrim said.

“It’s about showing these children that we believe in them and trying to show them that we want to give them the dignity and respect that they deserve to start the school year.”

Financial donations can be dropped off at the Salvation Army at 22188 Lougheed Highway.

Contributions help with purchasing additional needed supplies that are not provided in the backpacks like calculators, geometry sets and pencil crayons.

35,000 came in search of salvation

By Christina Toth, The Times July 16, 2010

With the summer sun dappling through dark evergreens beyond the open windows, the chorus of voices rose and spilled out of the Chapel in the Woods with the fervor and assurance of true believers. But among the rich resonance of the final hymn of How Great Thou Art, there was entwined a chord of sorrow.

For many of the men who stood and sang among the pews of the cedar sanctuary they had built, and for so many others who had literally come to the end of their road in the backwoods of Mission, they had found a new life in this Valley of Miracles.

But now, after 50 years of righting men who had fallen into the black abyss of addiction, the Salvation Army’s treatment and rehabilitation centre was closing.

The chapel fell silent on Wednesday at the end of the service, as Salvation Army leaders soberly folded the camp’s scarlet Blood and Fire flag, retiring it to history.

The centre has seen an estimated 35,000 men come into its healing heart since Capt. “Banjo” Bill Leslie founded the place in 1961.

The last group of men graduated Wednesday morning, and all that was left was a final farewell to the place, officially [named Paëtzold Centre] in recent years.

As they met with old friends and swapped memories, alumni and workers were happy to share their experiences with visitors. Story after story after story, they said the retreat had changed their lives.

Sean Russell was a young man with a lot of problems when he first arrived at the camp at the end of Stave Lake Road in 2001.

“I waited at the gate for seven hours before they let me in,” he recalled. “None of the other places would take me. I created so much havoc in Mission, none of the other places would take me.”

He slipped a couple of times. His last stay was in 2007, when he was using 12 different substances.

“I was just a mess. This place saved my life – I couldn’t do it on my own,” he said. Russell dug deep, completed 90-day recovery program, earned a counselling degree and is now an addictions counsellor at the Mission Indian Friendship Centre. Even his mom got to see him clean before she died.

Eric Stewart will celebrate 15 years of sobriety on Oct. 21.

He said he owes his life to the Army’s staff and to the camp.

“I was hooked on coke and heroin when they picked me up at Main and Hastings and brought me here,” he said. He feared it was going to be like an institution at first, but friends working in the camp kitchen told him to give it a week. Weeks turned into months and now many years of sobriety.

“So when they say miracles happen, they really do happen,” said Stewart, who is a board member at the Indian Friendship Centre.

The site was also supported by outsiders, such as Mission RCMP Insp. Pat Walsh, a community council member for the site for several years.

“I believe in the work of this facility, I have seen the miracles with my own eyes,” he said, referring to an acquaintance who received help at Miracle Valley.

The centre was part of the solution in addressing addictions, “so it will be with bit of sadness, and foreboding, that we accept the closing of this facility,” he said.

Earlier this year, Salvation Army headquarters in B.C. made the tough decision to close the treatment camp, which sits on a 77-acre parcel in rural Mission. It had grown from a rough hewn retreat where men could get sober and find Christ, to a cutting edge facility offering a 12-step, clinical therapy, art therapy and education.

But numbers fell from a peak of 200 to just 80 men in recent years, as interest has dropped in remote retreats.

The Salvation Army will continue to offer treatment services at its Belkin House and Harbour Light in Vancouver.

© Copyright (c) Abbotsford Times

Photo: Gospel Herald

City of Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie speaks at Rotary Hospice House Open House & Summer Garden Party on June 27th, 2010.

The event provided an awesome window for the public into amazing Salvation Army hospice care in Richmond.

Check out the whole story here.

Salvation Army hospice volunteers’ personal touches eases pain of transition

Written by Michelle Hopkins

Used with permission from Richmond News

When Lesley Hicks much-loved father, 82-year-old Percy Hicks, became too ill to be cared for at home or in hospital, the family struggled with what to do.

Then the family — Lesley, mother Iris and brothers Paul, Eric and Tony Hicks — were referred to Richmond’s Salvation Army’s Rotary Hospice House.

At first, Lesley Hicks said they were all reluctant, thinking the hospice would be a depressing and dismal last home for a father they cherished.

Once they stepped through the doors, they soon changed their minds.

“From the minute we walked into the hospice, it felt like home,” said Lesley Hicks, whose dad died in May 2009. “His room was lovely, like a hotel room, and all the medical equipment was nicely hidden.”

She went on to add that they were moved by the added touches in the hospice, such as the large windows overlooking the gardens and the cozy homemade quilts on the beds, courtesy of local volunteers.

The hospice also encourages family members to bring any personal item that might make their loved ones’ final journey a little easier on everyone involved.

“My brothers brought their guitars and keyboards and had singsongs for dad, and we brought bird feeders for his balcony,” Hicks said. “Dad especially enjoyed looking at the grounds, which are so lovely … it really didn’t feel like a hospice.”

Hicks said she could go on and on about the special care given by the staff, or the meals which came on dishes you’d serve at home, or the way the staff made the entire family, and more importantly their father, feel like they were important and valued.

“It could have been a horrific time, but it wasn’t because dad was treated with dignity and respect,” she said. “I only hope that when it’s my time, that I will be treated the same way.

“We often go back to the hospice and visit the staff and my mom brings them baked goods.”

Another important benefit for the Hicks family was that a real bond and support system developed with the other family members.

“We were all there for the same reason and it helped to have people understand and relate to what you were going through … we seem to draw strength from each other,” Hicks said. “The staff loved my dad so much. He knew, of course, that he was dying, and they helped bring him peace during his final weeks of life.”

Those sentiments are echoed often by families, said Major Margaret Evans, the executive director of the local Salvation Army’s Rotary Hospice House.

“When most family members visit the hospice for the first time they are surprised by how it feels,” Evans said as she gave a tour of the cheery, sunlit facility. “We often hear them tell us that they love that it’s a real home-like environment rather than a hospital.”

There is a fireplace and comfy couches in the “living room”, an open chapel and a lovely eating area. Evans went on to say that of its 10 beds, eight are reserved for Richmondites and two for Vancouver residents.

“Family members and pets can come at any time of the day or night and each room has a flip-out bed so that family can stay overnight if they wish,” said Evans.

However, the piece de resistance and Evans pride and joy are the flowering gardens. “We hired gardeners to create this beautiful and serene space,” she said. “We purposely kept it a little rustic with weathered wooden benches and a gazebo.

“We had a resident once whose family opened up the doors of his room and wheeled him outside to enjoy the gardens.”

The hospice, which is supported by Vancouver Coastal Health and the Rotary Club of Richmond, opened its doors in February 2006. It is an end-of-life palliative care facility for those with less than three months to live.

“Since we opened our doors, we have cared for more than 300 people,” said Evans, adding priority is given to those the integrated palliative care team believes needs it most.

“Each application is accessed by a team of professionals, including doctors and social workers, and no one is turned back if they can’t afford it … we will absorb the costs,” she said. “Anybody is welcome.”

Its philosophy, added Evans, is to walk beside each resident to facilitate a gentle closure to life, with comfort, values and decisions respected and families supported. The 24/7 care team consists of a registered nurse, four LPN’s, a chaplain, care aids and cooking staff. We also have on call a support team which includes an occupational therapist, four physicians, a social worker and a dietician,” Evans said.

“We also have a wonderful group of trained volunteers who act as companions for our residents.

“When people cannot die at home or don’t have a support system in place, we are here.”

When asked if its ever a gloomy place, Evans said: “There are some tough days but it’s hard to explain the atmosphere here … it really is a happy and warm environment.”

To that end, the hospice does host concerts, as well as piano and children’s recitals, for its residents.

There’s an opportunity for all local residents to come and discover what a warm and inviting setting the hospice truly is. The Rotary Hospice House invites everyone to come and visit the home during its second annual Community Garden Party, on Sunday, June 27 from 2 to 4 p.m. on its beautifully manicured lawns at 6460 No. 4 Rd. There will be live music, strawberries and ice cream and a chance to meet the staff and walk around the grounds.

“This is a fun event to make residents are that we are here and to celebrate what we do here,” said Evans. “There are many glimpses of happiness and peace amongst our residents.”

For more information, call 604-207-1212 or visit the website here.

A new community feeding program operated by The Salvation Army offers a hot meal every day of the week.

by Roxanne Hooper

There’s a new food security team in town, and they’re making it their job to feed upwards of 100 disadvantaged Langley residents every day of every week.

It’s a team of staff and volunteers working together at the new Gateway of Hope homeless shelter and outreach centre, and each day they’re providing a lunch or dinner for members of the community from the centre’s new, state-of-the-art commercial kitchen.

In addition to providing three meals a day for 30 clients in the Gateway’s emergency shelter, the Salvation Army-run facility also operates a community feeding program that sees 85 to 103 members of the community come in for a hot meal, explained Major George Perkin.

Gateway of Hope opened on the Langley Bypass last December, and expanded its services over the subsequent months.

The community feeding program was started up in January, and provides one hot meal a day: lunches on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 12:30 p.m., and dinners Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 5 p.m.

“Everyone is welcome,” Perkin said, emphasizing that it’s not only Langley’s homeless who attend. He noted that seniors, working poor, even families have frequented the meal program since its inception.

Lunches always consist of a home-cooked soup and bun, homemade sandwiches, and desserts, while the full course dinners always feature chicken, fish, steak, pork, and some kind of roast every Sunday.

It’s an excellent meal, and a good variety of food, said Fred Herbert, a resident of the Gateway’s transitional housing program who has been volunteering in the kitchen for the past two months.

“It’s not just food slopped on a plate,” Herbert told the Langley Advance, as he donned a pair of food safe gloves and buttered a bag of buns in preparation for a Tuesday night dinner.

“It’s great food, prepared nicely, presented well, and always delicious,” he said, pointing over fellow volunteer Darlene Koreen who was making a cabbage and apple salad, and to culinary chef Val Andrews who was preparing racks of orange-ginger glazed chicken for that evening’s feast.

Perkin explained that the community meal program is a key component in the Gateway’s continuum of care, but added that it is greatly dependent on the public’s generosity.

While there are one or two staff chefs working in the kitchen at any given time, the meal program (like many programs in the centre) relies on five to eight volunteers donating four-hours out of their day to make everything run smoothly.

As well, while Gateway receives funding from the provincial government to cover the cost of meals (and more) for the emergency shelter and transitional housing program, Perkin said all expenses associated with the community meal program are borne by the Salvation Army.

At an average cost of $6 per dinner, and $4 per lunch, Perkin estimates it costs about $400 a day, or $12,000 a month to run the food program. And that money, he said, comes from the annual Salvation Army Christmas kettle program, fundraising events, and private donations.

But the cost is worth it, Perkin said, noting that it provides more than just a hot, nutritious meal to the community’s homeless and others who can’t afford it.

The meal program also provides an important chance for fellowship, and an opportunity – if wanted – to reach out for assistance in other areas of their life.

“This is my dream job, to help homeless people and others in need, and comfort them with good food… Just to love them, nothing pleases me more than giving them a homecooked meal, and they’re always so thankful for it,” said Andrews, who joined the Gateway staff in November.

The Langley resident had been watching the erection of the shelter for months, and frequently wondered aloud to her daughters if the facility would need cooks.

“And in the past few months, this dream job has turned into a second family to me, just the closeness… just to know them individually… we’re there to more than just to cook for them, we’re there to develop friendships,” she said, noting that she and other kitchen staff and volunteers always take time out to sit down and eat with the members of the community who come in.

“It looks good if the chef eats it too,” Andrews said, noting the program runs on a six-week menu, meaning a meal is not repeated any time in that window, ensuring a good and nutritious variety to the visitors.

For more about the community meal program, or other services at the Gateway of Hope, call 604-514-7375, visit www.gatewayofhope.ca, or drop-in at 5787 Langley Bypass.

Are you interested, or do you have a family member who may be interested in hospice care?

The Salvation Army Richmond Rotary Hospice is a beautiful hospice facility in Richmond, British Columbia, is a very special place that cares for and supports loved ones and their families facing end of life.

Check out this video tour of the Hospice and appreciate this beautiful place that makes the end of life a supportive, and special time for individuals and their families.

More information about The Salvation Army’s Rotary Hospice House:

Richmond Rotary Hospice is a community which honours life, values humility and shares hope.

Fifteen years ago, individuals in the community of Richmond initiated the idea of a community-based hospice, an option to hospital and home for individuals and their families at end of life.

They created a partnership between the Rotary Club of Richmond and The Salvation Army, one based on a shared vision of the need for and value of hospice care. The Provincial Government, through Vancouver Coastal Health, supported this initiative. Rotary Hospice House is the result.

Rotary Hospice House Guiding Principles

We:

• accompany residents and their families through the journey of dying, death and bereavement with hope, sensitivity, and trust
• elicit values and respect individual choices and decisions
• believe in the privilege of sharing a most intimate and sacred time in life
• embrace and express the concept of community and its value in hospice recognize our common humanity, our spirituality and our connection to each other
• affirm the dignity and value of life
• uphold the search for meaning and purpose in one’s life
• value the whole person; body, mind and spirit
• acknowledge the mystery of life

For the fourth straight year, The Salvation Army was on hand at the start line of The Vancouver Sun Run, collecting donated clothing of runners as they began their run.

This year the weather was amazing, with clear blue skies and an unusually warm May morning. Salvation Army volunteers wondered if clothing donations this year may be down with fewer runners showing up with extra layers—that wasn’t the case at all.

Over 50,000 participants ran in the Sun Run this year, a very good turnout, with many participants remembering to bring an extra item of clothing to donate to The Salvation Army at the start line.

Over 200 bags were filled with donated clothes, equaling 4000 lbs of new stock for Salvation Army Thrift Stores.

“It was another tremendously successful year in our partnership with The Vancouver Sun Run,” said Major Brian Venables of The Salvation Army. “These clothing donations will equal a major boost for our Thrift Stores, so we want to say thanks to everyone who donated!”

Salvation Army Thrift Stores recycle over 100 million pounds of textiles each year, significantly reducing what would otherwise end up in landfills. Salvation Army Thrift Stores also provide clothing vouchers to low-income families across Canada in excess of $500,000 each year, and have provided over $14 million to Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters to fund social services throughout Canada.

The Salvation Army British Columbia Divisional Commander, Major Susan L. van Duinen, has issued a debriefing for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The message can be read here.

On a sunny mid-March afternoon in Kelowna, BC over 300 people gathered to celebrate the transformation of a former bowling alley and pub into the Kelowna Salvation Army’s new Community Life Centre and Thrift Store at a grand opening and dedication ceremony.

Services offered at the new Community Life Centre include counselling, emergency food hampers, pro-bono legal advice, referrals and help with clothing and furniture to those in need. Plans are also in place to develop a mentoring program and other community support programs.

“This new facility gives us an opportunity to own rather than lease and will allow us to better serve the Rutland community with more emphasis on helping families already living in the neighbourhood,” said Cartmell.

In the Picture:

Graham and Evan Skeen hold the ribbon at the dedication ceremony of the new Kelowna Salvation Army Community Life Centre & Herb & Elsie’s kitchen on March 13, 2010.

Cutting the ribbon from left are: Kelowna CO Major Ron Cartmell, Divisional Commander Major Susan van Duinen, Gord Wilson from Team Construction, Debra Blackmore, Tony Duarte from Team construction & architect Jim Meiklejohn.