A Summer Camp Success Story
Now 18 years old, Hannah has spent much of her life in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She perhaps isn’t whom you might picture when you think of someone from this part of town, but Hannah, just like hundreds of kids today, grew up calling this tough neighbourhood home. She successfully navigated the landmines of adolescence here, has grown in her faith and today runs her own business. She’s a remarkable young woman who says the opportunity to attend camp – given to her by Union Gospel Mission donors like you – played a key role in shaping who she is today.
When Hannah was nine years old, a donor with a heart for kids sponsored her to go to her first-ever week of summer camp through UGM’s Summer Camp sponsorship program. “My parents have five other kids, and to send all of us to camp would have been a huge expense.” She says that without the support of that UGM donor, “it just wouldn’t have happened.”
Joining kids in need from around Metro Vancouver, camp was a place where Hannah could mature in her Christian faith, learn to value community at a deeper level, and experience nature. “I really loved things like rock climbing, archery and canoeing. Those are things you just can’t do in the city so it was just something really special … I really looked forward to it all year.”
Through generous sponsorship, she returned to camp in years to come and was eventually able to join the camp’s leadership training program. “I remember being a child and looking at all these leaders and counsellors who were working there and wanting so badly to be a part of this program that had helped to change and shape my life.”
“My parents have five other kids, and to send all of us to camp would have been a huge expense.”
Photo: Hannah (pictured)
After completing her training, Hannah volunteered as a camp counsellor and in her new position found herself mentoring children from her own neighbourhood – Downtown Eastside children who’d been given the opportunity to attend camp through UGM. “The kinds of stories that I’ve heard from some of these children are really hard stories, but just to see the kind of joy they experience at camp is always very encouraging and uplifting.”
What Hannah says she learned in her various roles at camp – teamwork, work ethic, how it feels to be valued for one’s contribution and how important it is to encourage one another – she continues to pass on these values to children in her Downtown Eastside neighbourhood through mentorship opportunities. “It’s encouraging for me to hear their stories be able to offer them some sort of comfort even it’s just to be someone who cares enough to listen to their struggles and pray for them.”
And to the larger community, Hannah lives out her faith through her new business, The Velvet Matador coffee shop. “In opening this coffee shop, I was hoping to provide a community space for people to gather and a place that’s safe for families,” she says. She loves her community and is working to make it a more welcoming place for families and a brighter place for children who are growing up in it.
While successfully finding her feet in the world of small business, Hannah knows that no matter where life takes her, she’ll be firmly rooted in a Christian faith that was planted by her parents, blossomed at summer camp and continues to grow in her gritty, but beloved home neighbourhood, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
