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October 10, 2008

Pretty sure all of Vancouver woke up shivering this morning. I ran into Mikey on my way past the Drop-in this morning (he keeps things sane and stable over at the Vancouver Drop-in). "It's crazy over there this morning," he said -- and when Mikey says something's crazy, you know it's really crazy. Lots of people streaming in to grab a cup of coffee, some pastries and warm chair in a warm environment on a morning like this. Our overnight shelter, which sleeps about 50 people every night, closes down at the same time our drop-in opens -- that means our drop-in is a hotspot for shelter guests, and anybody else in the city who needs to escape the frosty concrete.
Yesterday's radiothon was a long, long day, but JRfm listeners were great: we raised enough in pledges and donations to serve about 7,400 meals this Fall. That was actually a little short of our goal of 10,600 meals, but still means that we can get a LOT done this fall. After Thanksgiving this Monday, when over 3000 people will be visiting us at three different facilities for turkey, mashed potatoes and a side-dish of hope, we will be seeing a lot more mornings like this one: chilly, frosty dawns that require a whole lot of coffee to warm us all up.

John Chow is wrapping up his matching offer TODAY, so if you want to help UGM meet the needs of Vancouver's hungriest, this is one of the best ways to make your donation even more effective. If you forward your email confirmation notice to johnchow@johnchow.com, John will MATCH every cent of your donation. So everything that you donate will be doubled. An unbelievable generous offer from one of the web's most notable bloggers. We're excited to see how the campaign finishes up.

The picture in this post was snapped around 9:15 this morning: don't be fooled by the beautiful sunshine and shadows, it's about 6 degrees right now. We're looking at the alley just off Princess Ave., just north of Hastings.