Something to smile about

Many of our young people have major dental problems.  When survival is your main goal, dental hygiene is not always a top concern; most of our youth can’t afford a dentist, don’t have a toothbrush and some have never seen a dentist.  We provide all of our youth with toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss and help them find dentists who will work at a discount or sometimes donate their services.  Our youth workers encourage and teach proper dental hygiene, however, drug use, particularly crystal meth, causes such severe tooth decay that often the teeth cannot be saved. 
 
Jenny had been accessing our Community Support Services (CSS) drop-in for a number of years and was a chronic crystal meth user.  However over the last two years, Jenny has undergone a transformation, having gone from living on the streets and using crystal meth daily, to completing a certificate program, working at a good job and having full custody of her child.
 
Jenny realized though, that her teeth were holding her back; she simply couldn’t smile because of her damaged teeth.  She turned to our CSS youth workers who agreed to support Jenny emotionally through the painful dental work and Covenant House helped offset the cost of the extensive procedure.  Although Jenny was quite nervous about the dental work, she never missed an appointment even though the procedures were grueling. Our CSS workers have been with Jenny every step of her journey, accompanying her to the dentist and holding her hand during the toughest procedures.
 
Jenny has been down a long and rough road, but now is looking forward to her future and is proud of what she has accomplished and for the first time in a long time, she can smile about it. 


  
Kooza Killed It!

We included some quotes in our last newsletter, but this card really says it all:  our young people loved "Kooza"!
 

 
New Research on Mental Health & Homelessness Underway

The Mental Health Commission of Canada is researching the effects of mental health and homelessness. Their current project “At Home/Chez Soi"”, the largest research project of its kind in the world, is underway in five cities across Canada.   Click here for more information.

DON'T FORGET TO SAVE THE DATE! 
“Night of New Beginnings”

TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice invites you to a wonderful evening: the “Night of New Beginnings” Gala at the luxurious Birks store in downtown Vancouver. This annual fundraiser kicks off our “30 Days for 30 Nights” campaign, which aims to raise enough funds to cover the cost of the daily operations of our 54 bed Crisis Shelter during the busiest month of the year, December. This year’s goal is to raise $125,000 at the event, which will go towards the overall campaign goal of $333,250.

DETAILS:

• November 25th,  5:00 – 8:00 pm
• hors d’oeuvres & cocktails
• incredible live & silent auction items, a stunning raffle prize and impressive entertainment.
• Tickets $75

For tickets, sponsorship opportunities or auction item donations please contact Crystal Montecalvo at 604-639-8934 or
cmontecalvo@covenanthousebc.org.

Links and why we love them.

We connect to other blogs and websites with a page dedicated to links to our peers, friends and other bloggers on our blog.  We are calling out to everyone who can to please link to either our homepage www.covenanthousebc.org or to our blog “On The House” http://www.covenanthousebc.org/blog.

By sharing linkes with other sites, we all get more exposure.

Thanks for the link love!

Pepsi Refresh Complete

We didn't win the $100,000 but we sure received an amazing amount of support from our friends.  Thank you for facebooking, tweeting and driving your friends crazy with requests to vote.