Surrey (October 14, 2016),
It was a great celebration last night at the Newton Cultural Centre to announce our 2016 Heroes of the Homeless and to recognize the homeless serving agencies in Surrey receiving Society grants.
Councillor Judy Villeneuve, Chair of the Society, presented awards to our 2016 Heroes:
L to R, Ken Woodward, City of Surrey Realty Dept, Larry Fisher, Lark Group, Chris Thornley, Thornley Creative Communications
Ken Woodward, Realty Department, City of Surrey
Chris Thornley, Owner, Thornley Creative Communications
Larry Fisher, President of Lark Group
Ken went above and beyond to help find and lease a building for an emergency shelter in Surrey in December 2015.
Chris has been an amazing supporter of Surrey Food Bank, fundraising some tens of thousands of dollars through the annual Blues for the Bank event he started over five years ago.
Larry and his staff are committed to affordable housing for our most vulnerable, including all of their in-kind support for the construction of a purpose built shelter in Cloverdale.
2016 Grant Recipients
Ten Surrey organizations received grants totaling over $260,000 last night from the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society for projects that will have a direct impact on homelessness in Surrey.This funding will help create 30 new transition beds in Surrey, including 5 youth beds. Grant funding is also supporting the necessary planning work at several homeless-serving agencies that will result in more permanent housing units for our homeless. Finally, a portion of grant funding is directed toward important capacity building and research initiatives that allow our homeless-serving agencies to better respond to the needs of our diverse homeless populations.
L to R: Jen McCaffrey, SHHS, Rabina Anjum, Canex, Vera LeFranc, SHHS, Bruce Kehler, Canex
Our thanks again to our generous event sponsor Canex Building Supplies for making this wonderful evening possible.