As the sponsor of the Dr. Charles Best Secondary School’s “Best Buddies “ leadership club, counsellor Kristi Blakeway decided it would be a good idea to bring the students to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside so they could reach out and help the downtrodden area’s many homeless people. After all, the club’s goal was to make a positive difference not only in the Coquitlam high school itself but also in the community at large.
But, thinking about the project in the autumn of 2009, Blakeway realized she would not be satisfied with leading a group that would simply hand out food or clothes to the needy. “While giving to the homeless helps our most needy,” she says, “it also creates dependence on a system that does not lack social services or free handouts.” Was there a better way?
Blakeway decided there was. She and her student leaders could help the homeless reach out to others, she figured, thereby allowing them to discover the power of giving for themselves. And thus was born Project HEALTH (Holiday Essentials and Love Towards the Homeless).
The idea was both simple and profound. Blakeway and her charges would: hand-make blank Christmas cards; ask the homeless in the Downtown Eastside if they wanted to send a message to a loved one; help the needy person fill in the card—or even write out the message for them; take the card and contact information back to the school to track down exact names and addresses; and then mail the completed card.
And so, in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2009, Project HEALTH came to life, eventually connecting 84 homeless and poverty-stricken men and woman with their loved ones, generating several inspiring television and newspaper stories, and changing for the better the lives of just about everyone it touched.
Hoping to build on the continuing success of the program—which the counsellor and her students quickly extended to Coquitlam-area homeless who gathered nightly during the winter at the city’s temporary homeless shelters—Blakeway applied to the Coquitlam Foundation in early 2010 for a grant to, among other things, allow the group to purchase a video camera so that the homeless could send photos and video messages to their loved one. The remainder of the funds would be used to pay for food to prepare meals for the homeless.
In the spring of 2010, the Coquitlam Foundation announced that Project HEALTH was the recipient of a grant of $1,250 from its Community Wellness Fund. “We’re very grateful for the support we’ve received for Project HEALTH,” Blakeway says. “Not only does this program empower Coquitlam youth to make a difference, but it also teaches compassion, understanding, hope and appreciation.” At the same time, she explains, it helps the homeless reconnect with families, and increases the number of shifts for the school’s volunteers in the Tri-Cities’ Wet and Cold Weather Mat Program.
Project HEALTH and its follow-up program, Project HELLO (Helping Everyone Locate Loves Ones), have received nationwide attention and praise, including the Coquitlam Foundation grant, a Tri-Cities REACH Award, and a Solicitor General’s Community Leadership Award. The latter award recognizes excellence and leadership generated by children or youth, services clubs, media, business, local government, community policing and volunteers in crime prevention and community safety.
“It’s dedicated volunteers like the members of Best Buddies who are the lifeblood of a healthy community,” says Laurel Lawson, executive director of the Coquitlam Foundation. “We’re very pleased to be able to support their good work. By doing so, we wish Blakeway and her students continued good fortune, and hope that many others are inspired to follow their sterling example.”