Powell Place Shelter for Women & Springhouse Shelter for Women-led Families urgently need your help!

Powell Place and Springhouse Shelters in Vancouver are in urgent need of funding to purchase clothing gift cards for women and children in shelter facing increased risk due to COVID-19.

As The Bloom Group continues to keep the women and children in our shelters safe and healthy, the focus has shifted to meet new demands resulting from living in a pandemic. In the past, we relied on in-kind donations from the community to help provide essentials such as clothing. With the current precautions in place, we are no longer able to accept donations of used goods, including clothing, removing a viable resource for in-kind donations. To combat this loss of support, we are seeking funds to purchase gift cards for clothing for women and children.

Due to COVID-19, women living in shelter face increased risk of contacting the virus from shared space, underlying or preexisting health conditions and lived experience that make them particularly vulnerable. Help women and children build resiliency and recover from the effects of COVID-19.

Powell Place serves women living with the intersecting challenges of violence, abuse, poverty, mental illness, and addiction. Our innovative, strengths-based approach encourages women to make their own choices and supports them as they reach toward their goals. Powell Place is the first women-only shelter in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It houses 52 women.

Springhouse is the only women’s shelter in Vancouver that accepts male children over age 12, which helps keep women-led families together as they find permanent housing. Children and youth receive one-on-one emotional staff support in a child-friendly environment and families are connected with community resources, including schools and clinics. Springhouse has 32 beds and 10 transitional housing units.

568 individuals received shelter in Powell Place and Springhouse in 2019.

Thank you for helping us keep the most vulnerable safe and resilient.

This video from prior to the COVID pandemic explains some of the things we do to help women. Now, these services are more important than ever.

The Bloom Group Community Services Society

Since 1961, The Bloom Group has led many of Vancouver's most progressive social services to reduce homelessness, provide end-of-life care for individuals with mental health challenges and addictions, ensure women-led families in crisis can stay together as they rebuild their lives, and much more. Our ‘low-barrier’ services are inclusive and available to all individuals in need, regardless of their circumstances, and without conditions.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1939920