The Power of Community
Summer 2026 · Impact update
Institutions process people. Communities receive them. Here is what your giving built this year — in our kitchens, our living rooms, and the quiet conversations that happen within our walls.
A letter from the Executive Director
Why Anawim works
"The reason Anawim works is because we're not institutional."
Daithi · Program Manager, Anawim House
A few weeks ago, I sat with our Program Managers reflecting on some of the incredible successes of the past year.
We talked about a mother reunited with her children right in Susan's living room. We spoke about a former resident we recently ran into at a Community Homeless Connect event — no longer seeking support, but serving as an employee working with people with disabilities. We remembered every single person who moved out of Anawim and into permanent housing this year, each leaving us in a fundamentally different place than when they first walked through our doors.
During that conversation, Daithi, Anawim's Program Manager, leaned forward and said something that cut right to the core of our work. He said, "the reason Anawim works is because we're not institutional". He's right. Big systems love straight lines and neat boxes. They build rigid models and ask hurting humans to reshape themselves to fit inside them. But human suffering isn't geometric. It's messy, complicated, and deeply personal.
At Anawim, rather than bending a person to fit our model, we adapt our model to fit the person. Our success doesn't live in a formula, or a spreadsheet — it lives in our kitchens, our living rooms, and in the quiet conversations that happen within our walls.
That is what defines Anawim. We are committed to creating a community where every person is welcomed with grace, where relationships are at the heart of everything we do, and where safety and dignity create the space for lasting change.
Many organizations are built to help people survive a crisis. At Anawim, we are called to something deeper: helping people reclaim a future beyond it. Everything we do is for the person searching for an off-ramp: out of homelessness, out of poverty, out of addiction, and into a future rooted in stability, health, and hope.
Every day, we witness people in our care move from homelessness to housing, from addiction to recovery, from isolation to belonging. This transformation happens through relationships, trust, and a community that refuses to give up on people. That is why Anawim will always be more than a shelter. We are a place where dignity is restored, hope takes root, and new beginnings become lasting change.
With gratitude,
Jeffrey Baergen
Executive Director
Anawim receives no government funding. Every meal served, every safe night, and every hour of counselling in this update was made possible by donors and volunteers.
Program update
The demand behind the doors
This year, our drop-in program welcomed guests at a record pace. This summer alone, we set three new records for single-day attendance, with more than 60 guests through our doors in one day. Breakfast has served 3,705 people so far this year; lunch, another 1,881.
We're averaging about 150 showers each month, and even with a six-week laundry room closure this spring for equipment repairs, we still completed 681 loads of laundry so far this year. Our clothing room has seen 2,751 visits this year so far — about 393 a month.
At Anawim House and Susan's Place, we're providing 450 safe nights every month for 15 people. Our waitlist remains high: 60 men and 42 women — 102 people waiting for a breakthrough.
That number isn't discouraging. It's clarifying. It tells us the work isn't finished.
- 3,705breakfasts served
- 1,881lunches served
- 150showers each month, on average
- 681laundry loads, despite a 6-week closure
- 2,751clothing room visits
- 450safe nights a month across both homes
- 102individuals on our current waitlist
- 3single-day attendance records this summer
Repaired, and running again
Clean clothes are the reason many guests come in. After a six-week shutdown this year, donor support put the machines back in service. Despite the brief gap in service, so far in 2026 we've completed 681 loads of laundry—restoring an essential service that helps people maintain their dignity, health, and confidence.
Volunteer spotlight
Patti-Lee, clothing room
After 11 years of Wednesday shifts, Patti-Lee still calls it her happy place.
The big blue house with the white picket fence and the wide veranda looks like Grandma's house, and it welcomes you in the same way. That's what Patti-Lee has felt every time she arrives for her shift in the clothing room — for eleven years now.
"It's usually a beehive of activity," she says, "organizing and putting out donations before the drop-in doors open." She loves greeting familiar faces, and offering a smile to the people standing tentatively in the doorway for the first time, unsure what they'll find.
"It is so humbling to see someone so happy just to find a clean, dry pair of socks," Patti-Lee says. Some guests have had everything stolen and don't even have a clean t-shirt. Some are so young it breaks her heart. But she knows the house is safe, and the staff are kind.
There's a mirror on the clothing room door. Guests are encouraged to try things on and take a look. "The smiles are precious, and the joy is complete," she says. When one of the men finds a suit for a job interview, or a shirt for a court appearance, "they leave the room with their heads held a little higher."
Her favourite moment of the week is coffee time upstairs before the doors open — sitting with residents, hearing about the courses they're taking, the plans they're building. "The staff are around at this time too, and I love getting to know them. Their smiles are genuine."
Outside, drop-in guests gather on the veranda, waiting for the doors to open — for breakfast, a shower, a load of laundry, or a conversation with a director about what comes next.
"It really is our happy place."
Patti-Lee · Clothing room volunteer
Join us
Anawim needs more people like Patti-Lee
Anawim began 40 years ago as a volunteer-run organization. Today, volunteers still far outnumber staff and remain the heart — and the hands — of everything we do. For four decades, compassionate people from this community have shown up to offer care, support, and a sense of belonging to men, women, and families facing homelessness, poverty, addiction, and housing instability.
The need keeps growing, and so do we. We're supporting more people than ever, with more complex needs than ever. We can't do that without more volunteers.
Whether you have a few hours a month, a skill to share, or a willingness to help behind the scenes, there's a place for you here. For 40 years, volunteers have been the foundation of everything we do. We need your help to build 40 more.
Counselling update
A year of onsite care
Notes from Anawim's onsite clinical counsellor, funded through the Wheeler Foundation.
When onsite counselling was proposed, the goal was accessible, high-quality, trauma-informed care for people facing real barriers to support. Over the past seven months, our onsite counsellor has provided individual counselling and facilitated weekly groups at both Anawim House and Susan's Place.
The work has focused less on addiction and recovery directly, and more on curiosity — helping people understand why they are the way they are, so they can make more informed, empowered choices. Therapy here isn't about telling people what's best for them. It's about helping them understand themselves.
One of the greatest strengths of bringing counselling in-house is watching relationships develop naturally. A simple "good morning" in the hallway has grown, for some, into a regular weekly session. At the men's house, alumni continue returning for group sessions — often deeply honest, connecting conversations. At the women's house, group sessions offer a space for those who aren't ready for one-on-one counselling but still want connection and support.
Engagement is growing, relationships are forming, and it only gets better from here.
Client story
Steve's story
Shared with Steve's permission.
Before coming to Anawim, Steve was trapped in a cycle that felt impossible to escape. He was living in a place where drugs were everywhere, easy to find and hard to get away from. Every day was a battle just to get through. He wanted a different life, but without a safe place to live or people who believed in him, recovery felt out of reach. Hope seemed like something meant for other people.
Then Steve found Anawim. He wasn't sober yet. But something about the place stayed with him — he knew it was where he wanted to be. Instead of turning him away, our team encouraged him to focus on his recovery first. "When you're ready," they told him, "come back." Those words mattered.
A year later, Steve returned — this time sober, and ready to begin again. That second chance changed everything.
Today, Steve has something he once thought was impossible: a safe place to call home, people who support him, and the stability to focus on his future instead of just surviving another day. For the first time in years, he believes his dreams are within reach.
Steve's dream now is to start a business that helps others who are struggling, just as he once did. The support he found at Anawim didn't just change his life — it's inspired him to want to change someone else's.
Every day, people like Steve arrive at Anawim searching for the same thing: a chance to heal, a chance to rebuild, a chance to believe tomorrow can be better than today.
For Steve, Anawim became the beginning of an entirely new life.
Looking ahead
A path to a future, not a shelter
A few years ago, we made a choice: to invest in how we tell our story, so more people could see what's possible here.
We're so glad we did. It means we get to bring you stories like Patti-Lee's and Steve's. It means more people are discovering Anawim, engaging with our mission, and choosing to become part of this community. And it means we get to say thank you, more often and more sincerely, to the donors and volunteers who show up for us again and again.
Because here's the truth: Anawim receives no government funding. We rely entirely on people like you — the donors who give, the volunteers who show up week after week, the partners who believe in what we're building. That reliance isn't a weakness. It's what makes us a true community, not an institution.
So looking ahead, our hope is simple. We hope you'll consider how you might be part of this — whether that's making a gift, volunteering your time, or coming for a tour to see it for yourself.
You can give someone a bed, a meal, and clean clothes. But without a community where people genuinely belong, you've built a shelter, not a path to a future. We're building the second one, together — and we'd love for you to be part of it.
With gratitude
To our donors: every gift matters, whether it's your first year with us or your fortieth. You are the reason Anawim exists — the reason our doors stay open, our beds are filled with people building new lives, and our programs continue to meet a growing need.
Among the many generous partners who make our work possible, we are profoundly grateful to the Carole and Clint Forster Foundation, a fund at the Victoria Foundation, and the Victoria Foundation's Community Grants Program, whose generosity makes every aspect of our work possible — from keeping the lights on, to delivering life-changing programs, to ensuring compassionate staff are there to walk alongside people when they need it most.
And to the Wheeler Family Foundation, whose continued investment in onsite clinical counselling is transforming how our residents access care by removing waitlists, eliminating barriers, and providing the continuity of care that makes all the difference for a community in desperate need of quality mental health care.
Sincere thanks to The Sisters of Saint Ann — Esther's Dream, the Pinch Family Trust, and the Watkins Bixby Fund, all through the Victoria Foundation.
We're also grateful to United Way BC, the Oak Bay Rotary Club, the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller, The Mustard Seed, and Soap for Hope.
Your generosity makes every day at Victoria's only substance-free drop-in program possible, ensuring that meals, showers, laundry, clothing, and a safe, welcoming space remain available to the hundreds of people who rely on Anawim each week.
While we cannot recognize every generous donor by name here, please know that every gift — large or small, one-time or lifelong — makes a meaningful difference. To every individual, family, business, foundation, faith community, and service club that has chosen to invest in Anawim, thank you. Your generosity changes lives every single day, and we are deeply grateful.
Anawim receives no government funding. Every meal, safe night, and hour of counselling in this update exists because this community chose to make it possible.
Be part of the next 40 years
Anawim operates the only substance-free drop-in space in Victoria — entirely donor-funded, with no government support. Every gift, every volunteer shift, every shared story helps someone find their off-ramp.
The Anawim Companions Society · 973 Caledonia Ave, Victoria, BC V8T 1E7
anawimsociety.ca · Charitable Registration #119212256RR0001
