Read Stories 

March 13, 2008

UGM's Women's Drop-in Centre provides a safe place for women from the Downtown Eastside community to spend time enjoying great food, warm beverages, and diverse conversation. The staff aim to make it a place of refuge and fun, providing supportive counseling and referrals, alongside karaoke sessions and bingo nights. As a cornerstone ministry in the DTES, there are many lives being changed here, as Drop-in Centre staff member Skye tells of below...It is amazing to see how God works in big ways and small here at the Union Gospel Mission Women’s Drop-In Centre. I met a woman yesterday who told me that God had saved her life right here at the Women’s Drop-in Centre 3 years ago. She will remain nameless to protect her privacy.

She sits across the table from me in a crowded room and tells me of her struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, and her past history of abusive family members, and partners.  She tells me that some days are really hard and she has her ups and downs still. But if it weren’t for the people here at UGM who loved her so greatly and cared for her in the storm of her life, that she would be dead. 

The year was 2005. She was getting ready to go out on a binge, and arranged to have a friend meet her at the Women’s Drop-in Centre for dinner. That particular night though, she didn’t feel well; She had a bad feeling about the dealer coming to meet them.  During dinner, the devotional message spoke about making decisions for her life that would honor God. She decided to stay behind, and her friend decided to go on without her.

Her decision that night saved her life. Her friend went missing and was not to be heard from ever again. She was one of the Pickton victims.

The emotional toll that this took on her was dramatic. She has gone through years of wondering what would have happened to her that night if she had climbed into the same  van that picked her friend up on the corner at Princess and Hastings. And she wonders why God spared her.

These days, she is making better decisions for her life. Though the battle of addiction will always be there, she knows a miracle took place in her life. She knows that God must love her so much to have given her the ability to make that decision that night. And she thanks God for a place where she can come to feel His love and presence, a place that is a 2nd home for her.

Now she comes to the Women’s Drop-in with her beautiful baby granddaughter, and is growing in her relationship with God. She says that life once was a nightmare, but now it’s become a dream.