Princess Avenue doesn’t have an official ‘car free’ day, but the Downtown Eastside street will in fact be closed to cars twice this week. Yesterday Union Gospel Mission (UGM) hosted Summer Connect outside its building north of Hastings, and on Sunday (June 18)…
As we hunker down for another round of snow, it is encouraging to know that the Salvation Army, Union Gospel Mission and several churches are playing a major role in providing Extreme Weather Shelter for many homeless people. The City…
The biggest event on the horizon is Missions Fest, which will be held at the end of next week (January 26 – 28) at the Vancouver Convention Centre. What I love about Missions Fest is the opportunity to meet the…
Jenny Hawkinson has been working as an artist for a decade, mostly in the Downtown Eastside. For several years she worked with Mission Possible; now she is a DTES street pastor / artist with 24-7 Prayer. Over the summer, she and…
Last Thursday (June 30) Grandview Calvary Baptist Church hosted a ground-breaking event for the Co:Here Housing Community project – a four-storey, affordable housing complex with 26 self-contained units. Following several short talks, participants walked one block east along 1st Avenue…
Raised in foster care, a child of alcoholic parents and residential school survivors, 47 year old Loretta John is no stranger to pain. But after overcoming alcoholism, addiction, homelessness and poverty, and after enduring decades of back-breaking labour work, Loretta…
More than 30 Abbotsford churches (and a couple of schools) are posting the same Thanksgiving message on their signboards for two weeks: Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. The initiative is sponsored by the Abbotsford Christian Leaders Network…
As Canadians prepare to vote for a new federal government this year, a faith-based justice group has teamed up with a national anti-poverty movement to release a comprehensive plan which challenges the incoming governing party to end poverty in Canada.…
“We don’t know what will happen, but God does.” So said Fr. Richard Soo at an Ecumenical Prayer Rally for Peace and Human Rights in Hong Kong, in front of the Chinese Consulate last Saturday (October 4). Numbers are down at…
The homeless are out in the open at the Oppenheimer Park tent city. Many who were hidden in shelters or sleeping in the bushes have occupied the Downtown Eastside park for more than two months now. The same is true…