Join us to support our neighbours in the Downtown Eastside

SRO residents need more resources, more supplies and more food to get by.

So many people are asking right now what they can do to help others during the virus crisis. It’s wonderful to see people reaching out to friends, family and neighbours. But if you want to do even more to save lives, especially for vulnerable people, here is your chance.

Wendy Pedersen of the Carnegie Community Action Project reached out to me to sound the alarm that the 4,700 people living in cramped single-room-occupancy hotels in the Downtown Eastside were extremely vulnerable to COVID19. The concentration of poverty is a powder keg of contagion. The science is clear: Viruses spread when poor people don’t have the resources to stay clean and healthy.

The City of Vancouver is taking action, but organizations that serve the DTES see that their communities are going to need more resources, more supplies and more food to get by.

The DTES Response is a coordinated effort by community groups to help. Their requests are twofold:

1/ Stay out of the neighbourhood for now, to avoid bringing in infection.

2/ Donate what you can through this website below.

DTES Response is mobilizing to raise $100,000 to meet the immediate needs of SRO residents, including food, cellphones and funds. These folks are our neighbours. They are the most vulnerable people in Canada. They need us right now. Please help us support our neighbours in the Downtown Eastside. Visit https://dtesresponse.ca/ to make a donation and to stay up to date with community needs.

Thank you for taking care of each other.