Wendy and I, along with Joanne, Sandra and Karen, were touring facilities in the Vancouver area today.  We’re looking at both program development and facility replacement in Calgary and Edmonton, and while we are a long way from shovels in the ground, Joanne felt we should see some of what has been done in Vancouver.  I have to say it was an impressive day.  We put lots of miles on and we walked a great number of stairs but what great work we saw!  Social Detox, shelter beds, counselling, feeding programs, educational and vocational programs, roof top gardens, women’s shelters, rescue work, street intervention….all these and more were very active.  In one of our oldest kitchens, in one of the worst parts of Vancouver they feed 1600 meals per day, every day!

We finished off sitting in a little cafe in the Gas Town area talking about what are our “take aways” from the day.  We all had some piece that stirred our imagination or confirmed our direction.  This was a very worthwhile trip.

If you haven’t had a chance to look at TSA’s Annual Review – you can visit it here!  And one final photo to see!