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Metal Thursday!

Laurie, who is Umbrella's favourite Costco cashier, and Sharlene both wore their concert shirts on the same day, again. We capture these great phenomenons once a year, with last year's shirts being Guns N' Roses. They year Sharlene rocked her Metallica shirt and Laurie ...
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Podcast Season 3/E3 – Derek

In today's podcast, Blake sits down with Derek, a participant in this year's Recovery Campaign and a team member of the Umbrella Society. Derek talks about how he overcame his will to use and the challenges he faced when changing his way of thinking surrounding his su...
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SOSJ Event

Today was the Sovereign Order of St John's community event at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre. The results of their environmental scan were presented and both SOSJ and Times Colonist folks spoke about the scan and the social profits that are doing the work. There were ove...
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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Umbrella Team! We were able to hold our first fun social at our new space, it was a hit and some of our Umbrella team members dressed up! Have fun and stay safe.
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Halloween at our houses

The residents at our houses were busy carving up some pumpkins in preparation for trick or treating tonight. This is one of our favourite activities each year, the residents really get creative and have a lot of fun. Candy is stocked, pumpkins are carved - we are ready ...
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Recovery Communities

Yesterday, Evan was asked to join a panel on recovery communities that took place during a Community Safety and Wellbeing conference. Moderated by Janine Theobald, Evan joined fellow panelist Cheryl Diebel from New Roads and Corrine Antrobus from Moms Stop the Harm. The...
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Community Safety & Wellbeing

Umbrella was thrilled to be invited to be a panelist at the Reimagining Inclusive Community Safety and Wellbeing conference that took place at the Victoria Conference Centre on October 28. Evan was joined by the mediator Mayor Marianne Alto and fellow panelists Dr Ashley...
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Podcast Season 3/E2 – Kevin

In today’s episode, Blake sits down with Kevin, who shares a story of overcoming adversity and a family history of addiction to find a rewarding life in recovery. Kevin’s story is an incredibly inspiring example of forgiveness, acceptance and how someone can find unique...
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Angels Lunch

Yesterday, Sharlene and Stefanie joined the Angels for a lunch and update on the programs they support at Umbrella. We are grateful that the Women's Group and one of our Parents Groups are funded by these amazing angels, in addition to supporting the men in our two third ...
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Annual Costco Trip

Every year, usually when Erik is away, Sharlene drags Evan to shop at Costco with her for Foundation House groceries. Sharlene LOVES Costco, and Evan does not. Today, Sharlene called him a "Costco Rookie" and Evan responded he was more of a "Washed up Veteran"... The guy...