Finding a Niche...

Greetings my friends:

When I arrived in this area on July 7, 2011; I was a stranger to most of the folks I would eventually be working with in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver BC (DTES). There are many civic organizations, government programs, a number of churches and faith based shelters all trying to create communities to help the marginalized living in the DTES recover from their dislocation.

As much as I enjoy meeting with and encouraging individual residents in the DTES, I feel my calling is primarily in educating, training, and encouraging staff and volunteers in the area about addiction and recovery. I teach a faith based view integrated with the science of addiction. I have become part of three groups here: First United Church, the Dugout, and The New Way Community. My passion also includes offering workshops to local churches outside the DTES as I feel the church is the ideal place to treat addiction in concert with self help groups (Workshops).

Last month we held a two part workshop at the Dugout which was well received and we will hold another there in the future. Next month beginning on May 18 I will be doing a two hour training every other week including case studies with the staff that has the most direct contact with the residents at First United Church.

At New Way Community we are discussing attracting theological and other students from local seminaries and universities to the DTES for a 1x1 guided tour. This would give me a choice to do some individual mentoring leading to group training on addiction and recovery for the most marginalized. Only 13% of pastors have had any formal education or training about addiction.

I am humbled about being a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Oregon Coalition for Housing and Homelessness (OCCH) to be held in Hood River on May 2-4. At the welcoming luncheon my focus will be Homelessness and Addiction: Challenging the Status Quo. The next day will be a 90 minute seminar Home for the Homeless and then on Friday a 3 hour workshop on Addiction and Recovery that many of you have attended. What an opportunity to present faith based strategies and the reality that I am supported in this outreach by so many of you readers.

On May 6th I will be in Roseburg for an interest group meeting at Redeemer's Fellowship after the third service (around 1:15 PM). I hope to see most of you there to catch up on our fellowship and the current direction of this journey we share.

Your thoughts, prayers, and financial support make this "niche" possible.
Ross

Asset Mapping

One of the principles of creating community  is known as asset mapping based on the work of John McKnight (Asset-based Community Development Institute). This includes:

     - Developing a method for identifying the voluntary clubs, organizations, faith groups,
       and associations in a neighborhood and fostering new productive relationships among
       them.

     -Identifying the specific gifts, skills, passions, and teachable knowledge of residents
      at the block level fostering new productive relationships between these individuals,
      their families, and children.

    - Developing a method for neighborhood planning that is based on resident ideas for
      improvement and that mobilizes these residents' productive capabilities for
      implementing their own ideas.

Yesterday I was chatting with a local neighborhood resident, a Native Canadian and
well know artist in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver BC (DTES). There is a large

totem pole that was carved and donated to First United Church a few years ago, and
Edgar was showing me the part he carved.

I went to the kitchen to get us a cup of coffee and when I returned he had retrieved
two colors of paint and a brush out of his backpack and had started painting. I had
earlier mentioned my attraction to red tail hawks and I soon saw that was what he was
painting. Then when he was studying my face I knew he was also including me. In no more than 10 minutes he gifted me with this painting.

Edgar is a prime example of how gifted so many of the residents of DTES are and
what a gift he is to the community I feel so privileged to be part of.

Spring at First United Church

Bunks in the Sanctuary

The freezing and rain drenched nights are finally ending with recent warmer temperatures. BC Housing is starting to shut down the winter shelters in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver BC.  First United Church receives funding from BC Housing to function the way they do, but this amount was reduced at the first of the year and restrictions imposed on the numbers allowed in the building.

First United does not see themselves as a winter shelter as its mission is to provide services year round. With the new restrictions the church now sleeps about 150 rather than 240, but still serves 800 to 1000 meals daily. In the last 3 month period 800 people spent 5 nights or less sleeping at the church.

However, the core of the community are the 60 people who see First United as their home right now. It is with this group we primarily attempt to establish a sense of restorative community with the church becoming a temporary home rather than just a place to sleep and get meals. There is a staff of advocates who are regularly seeking places for community members to live. Many of those who have found supported living, still spend considerable time at the church as we seek to provide a sense of belonging. There are avid hockey fans here and about 40 of us recently watched the first Canuck playoff game.

The picture shows some of the beds available for men in the space that used to be the sanctuary when First United was a traditional church. Spiritual programs now are held in the gymnasium where food is served or a smaller chapel that is in the process of being painted and revitalized. Last Wed night at our special dinner and gathering, I brought a message on  Addiction as Spiritual Poverty.

Thanks for your continued thoughts, prayers and support as I seek to help the process of building  community in the DTES of Vancouver BC. I also serve with two other groups: The New Way Community and the Dugout.