MINISTRY IN ACTION
Photo: © iStockphoto.com/karens4
Breaking the Cycle
More than a shelter, Vancouver’s Belkin House provides clients with a way out of hopelessness and despair BY KEN RAMSTEAD, EDITOR, FAITH & FRIENDS AND FOI & VIE
J
ordan was 53 years old and had spent more than 25 of them in prison. His latest four-year sentence had been for robbery. “Most of my life has revolved around getting and using drugs such as heroin, and I committed a lot of crimes to get heroin,” he says. “This last time in prison, I decided I needed to do something with my life. I was just fed up.” When Jordan was released, though, he had nowhere to go and he was afraid he’d start his destructive cycle all over again. He expressed his concerns to his parole officer and she arranged for him to go to Belkin House, a Salvation Army facility in Vancouver, and join their PDP (Personal Development Plan) program. “Belkin House changed my life,” says a grateful Jordan. Birth of a Notion Now in its eighth year of operation, Belkin House is a 230-unit mixed-use residential facility perched on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, often called Canada’s poorest postal code. 18 I September 2012 I Salvationist
“That’s one of the great things about Belkin House,” says Prabath Pullay, director of residential services. “We’re not in the Downtown Eastside but we are not very far from somebody who wants help. Clients often mention that they can come here without being confronted by a drug dealer, so that’s a good thing about this location.” A tour of the facility, from its spacious ground floor to its upper rooms, confirms the pride that both clients and staff have for the premises. No graffiti mars its walls, no garbage litters its hallways. There is one thing the single male occupant rooms and the dedicated floor for mothers and children lack, however. “We have purposefully said no to cable or telephones in the single rooms,” explains Pullay. “The building was designed in such a way that residents don’t look at it as permanent housing. We have a community TV room on every wing of the floor so that at least 15 people share one TV room. Community is encouraged but we also want to discourage clients to think of Belkin as a long-term housing solution,
and that concept is behind the whole idea of a Personal Development Plan.” Wide Range of Support While Belkin House provides an emergency
Belkin House is an open, inviting place for clients