A look inside who each of our 3 locations serves and how lives are transformed:
CENTRE OF HOPE – SERVING MEN
AN’S STORY
Originally from China, where he trained as a professional artist, An Dong has been in Canada for 17 years. He had hoped, when he first came, to be able to do more schooling and pursue a life as a professional artist. He has found though, that being an artist is a difficult and often unreliable way to make a living.
Despite several periods of success (his pieces can be found in galleries, public spaces, and corporate offices), An occasionally has to rely on shelter housing. Nothing stops him from painting though! An will work on canvases or other sturdy materials he finds in thrift stores, painting beautiful landscapes and images of Canadian history.
As a resident in our Transitional Housing Program for a few months now, An is working and making plans for his future. You can see more of his work on Facebook.
WEST CAMPUS – SERVING WOMEN
AMY’S STORY
Amy came to our Emergency Women’s Shelter many months ago when a sudden onset of health issues stopped her from working and this loss of income also brought on the loss of her apartment. Amy had stayed in our shelter previously back in 2015 and so she reached out. She was impressed to see how the program had changed with our re-opening in 2022. In her words, “it was exactly what I needed – so positive and supportive with a perfect balance between structure and freedom”. She loves the house, the property and, most of all, the staff.
Resource Specialists helped Amy connect with government support and health resources and also helped with the overwhelming task of finding a place to live. Amy is thrilled to have found a new home and will be moving out very soon. Finding affordable and suitable housing is a significant struggle for those moving on from our various housing programs, but a new program that allows us to help residents with damage deposits has made this move possible for Amy.
Amy will take things one step at a time as she settles in to her new home and looks for some suitable work. The positive connections she has made while staying with us though, will be with her no matter where her new life leads.
EAST CAMPUS – SERVING FAMILIES
A FAMILY’S NEW BEGINNING
Last November an Afghani refugee family arrived in Canada after fleeing from their home for security reasons. After a serious accident, the oldest daughter now lives with a disability and various ongoing health concerns, so this single mom brought her seven children here to start a new, safer, life. Fortunately, they have some local family to support, guide and help them not feel too alone here. However, finding a home for their large family, finding work, sorting out healthcare, getting children into school, learning English and the many other details is an overwhelming task! A Resource Specialist from our Community and Family Services Unit has helped open doors with things like access to healthcare aids and school supplies for the children.
Recently, thanks to the amazing Wheels for Kids program, we were able to deliver three bikes for the youngest kids and were honoured to be the guests of this lovely family. Two older daughters shared with us how they are adjusting to their new home and how much their mother enjoyed hosting us as that is a practice that would have been common for her in Afghanistan, but is now quite rare. Some exciting news was shared that the oldest son (25) has recently been employed by the Centre for Newcomers so that he can both support his family and also use his experiences to help open doors for others coming to Canada.
Across all our campuses we offer the following principle services as well:
Pathway of Hope – Case Management
Pathway of Hope focuses on identifying and addressing root cause issues for people living in poverty. It is a high-impact strengths-based case management approach to providing targeted services to people with a desire to take action to break the cycle of crisis and vulnerability. Intensive individualized support is given for participants to achieve short and long-term goals. This approach has been designed for The Salvation Army and is suitable for use in several different service contexts.
Chaplaincy (Spiritual and Religious Care)
The Salvation Army is an international Christian Church, and the integration of spiritual and religious care is central to our mission. At Community Services (Calgary) we provide spiritual and religious care throughout our programming through the use of Chaplains. Our well-trained chaplains know and understand their role and field of ministry, and bring the discipline of theology and spiritual care to both our clients and staff.
