對世代同行會而言，「將心比心 」象徵著大家互相給予的力量和愛。身爲社區的一份子，我們同心協力，互相鼓勵，互相支持，創造新的願景，讓未來的唐人街更加公平。

自2015年以來，世代同行會服務了許多說中文的長者。我們互相學習，風雨同路，確保長者們在醫療、住房、收入、食品安全、政府服務等方面都能獲得公平的待遇。世代同行會由李佩燕在2015年創立後，逐漸發展。今天，世代同行會有六位工作人員，服務數百位生活在市中心東端社區的華裔長者。

我們的社區需要你。在這次「將心比心」的籌款活動中，我們希望你獻出愛心，讓感恩之心匯聚，滋潤我們的社區。我們致力讓社區歷久彌堅。同時，我們尤其珍視社區中每一個人的安全和健康。今年，世代同行會的籌款目標是88000。有了你的支持，我們能繼續開展社區工作，降低長者孤獨的風險，確保長者在疫情當下及以後都能得到妥善的醫療服務。儘管加拿大政府的許多措施已經進入後疫情時期，我們不能忘記長者仍然面臨更高的感染新型冠狀病毒的風險（其中許多長者是殘疾人士並/或生活在共享住房中）。你的支持對我們至關重要。有了你的支持，我們將繼續耕耘社區，努力為唐人街創造一個公平、欣欣向榮的環境。

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For Yarrow, Heart to Heart is about emphasizing our power and love for one another as a community. As a community, our members work in solidarity to uplift one another, provide mutual aid and support, and create new visions for the future of an equitable Chinatown. 

Since 2015, Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice 世代同行會 has been working with Chinese-speaking seniors to ensure equitable access to medical support, housing, income, food security, and government services. Founded by Chanel Ly in 2015 , Yarrow Society has now grown into an organization of six staff, providing services for hundreds of Chinese seniors in the Downtown Eastside. 

Our community needs you. For our Heart to Heart campaign, engage in a labour of love, extending gratitude from your hearts to nourish the heart of our community. We remain committed to the strength and longevity of our community, while prioritizing the safety and well-being of our members. This year, Yarrow is raising $88,000 to organize, reduce isolation for seniors, and ensure access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. While the Canadian government continues to move on from the pandemic, we must not forget that seniors, many of whom are disabled and/or live in shared housing, remain at higher risk from COVID-19. Your support is critical to ensuring our ongoing work and vision of an equitable and thriving Chinatown. 

Why contribute to Yarrow?

• We provide one-on-one support for seniors who face language and cultural barriers to accessing government services to meet their housing, health, and income needs; 
• We are delivering culturally appropriate groceries to over 40 seniors and at-risk community members a week in the Chinatown and Strathcona community;
• We provide free culturally safe case management services in Chinese in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. We are one of the only two organizations offering this service even though Chinatown and Strathcona have 32% and 45% of people speaking Chinese as their main language at home; and  
• We help seniors access basic healthcare by providing medical accompaniment and interpretation support at their hospital and specialist appointments. 

   

Your contributions, whatever their amount, will help directly fund Yarrow’s programs:

• $10 will buy a bag of basic groceries that we deliver to seniors at home
• $15 will give a senior a ride to their medical appointment with our medical accompaniment volunteers
• $30 will support our medical accompaniment program and reimburse guests or volunteers
• $50 will support a senior applying for social housing
• $100 will ensure a senior can attend a doctor’s appointment with proper interpretation support
• $200 will fund a youth-led intergenerational event
• $500 sponsors 1 year of weekly basic grocery deliveries to a senior
• $1000 sponsors 1 year of weekly large grocery deliveries to a senior

For transparency, this is our current breakdown of the budget by program:

• Outreach program (including medical accompaniment and casework): 27%
• Grocery program: 21%
• Volunteer training, programming and support: 17%
• Seniors Hub program: 13%
• Disability justice and access program: 11%
• Administrative (including rent): 11%

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Yarrow has provided direct support for socially isolated seniors in the Downtown Eastside who need access to food and basic services. In partnership with S.U.C.C.E.S.S, Yarrow began providing fresh, culturally appropriate groceries to elders in the Chinatown, DTES, and Strathcona neighbourhoods, built and maintained relationships with 130+ elders through phone call check-ins, and distributed 100+ handmade reusable masks donated by community members.

In 2022-2023, our priorities are to:

• Continue supporting seniors one-on-one through casework and medical accompaniment services;
• Reorganize our grocery delivery program, ensuring that it is sustainable and continues to benefit community members and provide them with safe and culturally appropriate grocery deliveries as COVID restrictions are eased;
• Grow and deepen our network of youth volunteers to build our intergenerational community;
• Continue the Language Access to Healthcare Campaign; 
• Develop leadership among seniors and youth to advocate for language justice in the healthcare system; and
• Emerge and learn from the pandemic in a safe, equitable, and just way.

To keep Yarrow accountable to its mission to serve Chinatown and its low-income senior residents and to support the programs we outlined above, Yarrow needs the support of our loving community members. Funder priorities and community needs do not always align with the core services and programs that our community needs. Funding for non-profits is always precarious; at the time that we are launching our fundraiser, we have unfortunately been unable to secure a large chunk of funding that we have usually relied on. As such, Yarrow is at risk of losing staff and therefore losing services and abandoning clients. We are in urgent need of fundraising. For this reason, from our hearts to yours, we humbly ask for your support and solidarity. 

If you are interested in getting involved in our Language Access to Healthcare Campaign, please reach out to info@yarrowsociety.ca. For getting involved in our grocery store delivery program, please contact volunteer@yarrowsociety.ca. 

Long-term Vision

Yarrow’s ultimate vision is to support a thriving, equitable, and intergenerational community in Chinatown. Our community’s service needs are a result of systemic inequalities that have created barriers to vital services and community connections. We recognize therefore that providing interpretation and other services is not the answer to our community’s challenges; long-term inequities require long-term solutions. For this, Yarrow will need your continued support as we continue to provide support services and work towards social change to remove these access barriers.