Nonprofit Organizations in Vancouver

Kitsilano Neighbourhood House (‘Kits House’), member of the Association of Neighbourhood Houses BC, is a registered non-profit, charity organization dedicated to providing an opportunity for everybody in our community to get together and be engaged. We offer many different programs like volunteer-led English Conversation Circles, weekly hot lunches for seniors, childcare and much more. We are currently the only Neighbourhood House on the Westside and serves many different communities like Kitsilano, Dunbar, Arbutus Ridge and Point Grey. Kits House has a rich history on Vancouver’s Westside since 1894 when it was originally opened as Alexandra Orphanage and Non-Sectarian Home Society. This original site was located at 7th and Pine. The orphanage was eventually renamed “Alexandra House” in 1938. In 1972, the House moved to its current location, was renamed Kitsilano Neighbourhood House and still serves the six communities of the Westside.

The Westside Seniors Hub brings together local seniors and 17 Partner organizations serving seniors to ensure that Westside neighbourhoods are places where seniors can thrive. It serves as a ‘hub’ for sharing information and promoting collective action. It provides leadership for identifying gaps in service delivery and generating community support for seniors’ issues.

The Westside Seniors Hub brings together local seniors and 17 Partner organizations serving seniors to ensure that Westside neighbourhoods are places where seniors can thrive. It serves as a ‘hub’ for sharing information and promoting collective action. It provides leadership for identifying gaps in service delivery and generating community support for seniors’ issues.

We are an Indigenous non-profit organization providing services and programs for our community to acknowledge our past, present and future generations. Through our various events and programs, we provide supported services for indigenous children, youth, individuals and families.

The mandate of the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House is to provide programming and educational, leadership, social and recreational opportunities to residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Our vision is to provide a dignified welcoming space that creates and supports an improved quality of life for the DTES community. Our mission is to provide opportunities for residents to meaningfully engage with and contribute to their community in an equitable atmosphere of sharing and learning. The secular, grassroots Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House (DTES NH) embraces people of all ancestries, genders, ages and descriptions; annually welcoming almost 9,000 DTES residents in a community where 70% of our neighbours have low‐incomes, 700 are homeless and 5,000 are under-housed. Our programming is community inspired and varied, a sampling of which has included a Chinese Elders Community Kitchen, Traditional Aboriginal Community Kitchen, Leadership Development, a Children’s Community Kitchen, Nutritional Outreach Activities (Mobile Smoothie Project and Banana Beat), The Healing Circle, Father’s for Thought, Table Talks project, Family Drop In: Families, Farming and Food, Community Drop-in and the production of a Right to Food Zine. Those who built the DTES NH put the Right to Food at the heart of our work, as nutritional vulnerability was a theme familiar to all. Our goal around the Right to Food is to reform the nutritional impact, quality, abundance and delivery of food in the DTES in consultation with residents, community food providers, non‐food community organizations, healthcare professionals, policy makers, growers/suppliers, food/beverage industry professionals and researchers.

A Ride To Care For Cancer Patients The Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society is a not-for-profit organization providing complimentary transportation for lower mainland residents battling cancer. When you are in need of transportation to care we are here to support you with safe, timely and efficient service. We are a registered charity and work to raise the funds necessary to meet expenses associated with meeting cancer patient needs. Our team of volunteer drivers and dispatchers offers peace of mind for patients who may not have the means to drive to and from essential cancer treatments and medical appointments. The physical, emotional and financial burden is lifted knowing our friendly volunteers are only a call away.

Belkin House hosts a variety of residential programs and houses up to 225 men, women and children. We provide a clean, safe, secure, and comfortable accommodation for those who have come down on hard times. Belkin House is … - A state-of-the-art residential program facility in the heart of Vancouver dedicated to “breaking barriers – transforming lives”. - A place of healing, where faith and compassion overcomes homelessness, hunger, and dispair. - A place where ordinary individuals accomplish heroic things every day. - A place where we have been commissioned to care for and help individuals discover themselves, understand their purpose, and find their self worth.

South Vancouver Neighborhood House is a non-profit that runs and operates on unceded, occupied, ancestral and traditional homelands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. We exist to serve the needs of our community members in the Victoria-Fraserview, Sunset and Killarney neighborhoods. We recognize and acknowledge that our community is home to a large number of new immigrants, migrant workers, seniors living alone, young families and people of colour; we strive to provide the most accessible, culturally appropriate services for all our neighbors. From childcare, seniors tai-chi groups, immigration support and food programming, we are proud to offer a range of activities for people of all ages and backgrounds. The South Vancouver Neighborhood House believes in fostering strong neighborhoods through continual support, intergenerational engagement and community care.

Fire & Flower is a charity that provides transformative programs to empower girls in their INCREDIBLE rite of passage into young womanhood. Around the world and throughout history, societies recognized the rite of passage from girl to woman as a sacred and critical time, and guided girls through the process with mentorship and wisdom. Today, this has been lost and there has never been a harder time to be a young person, with mass and social media producing a constant feed of harmful messages and images. Fire & Flower is reviving ‘a village’ of women supporting girls as they come of age. We empower self-identified girls ages 10-14 in a non-binary, LGBTQ2SIAP+ inclusive environment. Through mentorship, community-building, and nature-connection, participants build confidence and pride in womanhood, discover their personal power, and develop resilience to engage their future.

Spanning the spectrum of crisis support, suicide prevention, and postvention, the Crisis Centre of BC provides a variety of services and programs that educate, train, and support the strength and capacity of individuals and communities. Our organisational focus is to ensure timely access to non-judgmental, barrier-free and confidential support though our Crisis Line and Chats, as well as to destigmatize suicide and mental health concerns, and increase awareness and intervention skills within our local community.

Our Vision A Vancouver community that supports and empowers older adults to live involved, healthy and fulfilling lives. Our Mission To enhance the quality of life of older adults by providing social, recreational, educational and supportive programs and services that foster connection and inclusion in the broader community. Our History On August 15, 1979, a meeting was held at the local office of the Provincial Ministry of Human Resources, comprised of representatives of government, the Vancouver Health Department and West End older adults. In this meeting, they examined the findings of a field-study conducted by the undergraduates of UBC’s School of Social Work on the needs of senior citizens. As a result, the West End Seniors’ Council selected an executive body to discuss and find solutions to the current needs of this community. Funded by a Federal New Horizons Program grant, an Information and Referral Centre was opened in 1982, operating 3 days a week and staffed by older adult volunteers with support from a paid, part-time Coordinator. West End Seniors’ Network become an incorporated society in BC in October 1982, and has been a registered charity since July 1984. Currently, there are over 950 members of the Network, 15 paid staff members and more than 250 active volunteers who contribute over 20,000 hours a year. The West End Seniors’ Network now operates from three different locations. In Denman Place Mall we run a thrift boutique, Clothes and Collectibles, and an Information and Referral centre, Kay’s Place. WESN’s main offices are located in Barclay Manor, a space dedicated by the City of Vancouver for older adults, where we work co-operatively with the West End Community Center Association to provide a variety of programs and activities.

SMART Recovery is not just any mutual-support program. Our science-based approach emphasizes self-empowerment and self-reliance. There’s no lifetime commitment; you decide when the time is right to move on. You choose how to personalize your own plan for successful change. SMART can be used both as a stand-alone program or in combination with other recovery paths. SMART Recovery recognizes the only one who can become truly expert on your recovery is you. https://www.smartrecovery.org/individuals/ The SMART program offers specific tools and techniques for each of the points: 1. Building and Maintaining Motivation 2. Coping with Urges 3. Managing Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviors 4. Living a Balanced Life People using the SMART Program: Move away from addictions and toward satisfying lives Learn tools and techniques for self-directed change Benefit from improved tools as scientific knowledge of addiction recovery evolves A variety of tools and techniques are employed for each of SMART’s 4 Points, including the Cost/Benefit Analysis; Change Plan Worksheet; Hierarchy of Values; ABCs of Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (for both urge-coping and emotional upsets); DISARM (Destructive Imagery and Self-talk Awareness and Refusal Method); Brainstorming; and Role-playing/Rehearsing.