Portland Hotel Society and the Homeless World Cup 2011

Vancouver School Bus provides transportation for clients that include schools, corporate organizations, non-profit organizations, bars and restaurants. From time to time, we work with organizations that are doing some pretty unique things to help improve peoples’ lives in Vancouver.

 

Portland Hotel Society LogoThe Portland Hotel Society (PHS Community Service)
One such organization doing some pretty great things is the Portland Hotel Society, a non-profit organization that provides permanent “no-eviction” housing for adults in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside facing challenges that include addiction, mental illness, homelessness, and poverty.
 

About the PHS Community Service
Created in 1993, the Portland Hotel Society was named after the US city Portland, Oregon, where Canadian activists were inspired by successful programs related to homelessness. It is funded by the British Columbia Housing and Mortgage Corporation and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
 

The PHS combines stable housing with professional support programs in order to help Downtown Eastside residents find the stability, dignity, and courage they need in order to turn their lives around.

 

The 2011 Homeless World Cup
The Homeless World Cup is a unique movement that uses soccer as a means to promote social inclusion of homeless and marginalised people. It’s less about the competition and more about teaching people discipline, teamwork and a stronger foundation of life skills needed to lift themselves out of homelessness. Spearheaded by Kailin See, the PHS assembled a team that participated in the 2011 Homeless World Cup in Paris.

 

Links related to the World Cup Team:
Video of Mayor Gregor Robertson honouring the Homeless World Cup Team
Vancouver Whitecaps showing their support
Street Soccer Canada’s Website

 

How soccer has helped to improve the lives of the team members?
Part of overcoming addiction or mental health issues is having a strong support network. Team members support one another and it keeps everybody focused and clean during their training period.

 

Beyond the physical and mental preparation that the players go through before the tournament, the real work begins once the players return to their lives from the annual tournament. The people shown in this picture are current and former members of the Portland FC team; real people that have come from dark places and conquered their demons to get to where they are today.

 

 

Today they are paid construction workers who are building the first regulation sized outdoor soccer field in Vancouver.
 

          

In addition to the soccer field, these troopers are also helping to build a community farm where members of the Downtown Eastside will be encouraged to get involved and contribute their time and efforts to help cultivate a sustainable source of food.

 

Would you like to help?
As the story above shows, these are people that are trying to make an honest effort at improving their lives despite having to deal with drug addiction or mental disorders or both.

 

Vancouver School Bus donated transportation services as a small contribution to the special individuals on the Portland FC team. These are people on a journey to improve their life however they can.

 

If you feel like helping out, please visit the PHS Community Service’s page on Canadahelps.org. Every bit helps to run these grassroots programs.

 


Tags: , , , ,

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 at 3:04 pmand is filed under Client Trips, Do The Right Thing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.