Podcast Season 2/E7 – Kristin

In today’s episode, the last episode of 2023, Blake sits down with Kristin, a member of our board and a member of this year’s recovery campaign. Kristin shares her story along with some thoughts on substance use in the trades and systemic changes that need to happen to be...

Thank you Times Colonist

Yesterday, Ian from the Sovereign Order of St John delivered a generous check, on behalf of the Sovereign Order and the Times Colonist to Evan at Umbrella. These funds will be used to offset the rising costs of food at our recovery houses, which allows us to continue to ...

Our Anawim Tree

Every year Anawim generously donates a Christmas tree to Foundation House, and this we got this beauty. Sharlene and Evan headed down to Anawim to meet up with Terry and pick the perfect tree. It isn't Christmas at our houses without Anawim! Thank you!!

Happy 3 years Nathaniel

What a milestone! Last night Zack and Potter House residents celebrated Nathaniel. Nathaniel reached three years in recovery and all of us at Umbrella  are incredibly proud of Nathaniel. That is three years of Nathaniel investing in himself and prioritizing his recover...

Christmas Party 2023

Last night was Umbrella's annual Christmas party. Well, it was more of a dinner, we aren't really partiers! Our emcee Blake faced his arch nemesis "the only works half  the time microphone" but nailed the emcee duties as always. Santa made an appearance, he had thinned...

Podcast Season 2/E6 – Eileen

  In this episode, Blake speaks with Eileen as she shares her story about growing up with addiction in her family and how it shaped her substance use challenges. Eileen's story is one of resiliency, self-discovery and transformation. Listen to Eileen's powerful story h...

Dinner on a Dime

The costs of living have become extremely hard to manage for much of our community; these everyday challenges are typically experienced much more severely at supportive housing sites across the region. In response to these pressures, Umbrella Society’s Sean and Josh felt...

BCNPHA Conference

Umbrella Society Recovery Housing Manager Zack recently attended BC Non-Profit Housing Association’s (BCNPHA) Housing Central Conference in Vancouver BC. This annual Housing Central Conference, delivered in partnership with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association a...

Issues of Substance Conference

Last week Umbrella was pleased to be represented at the Issues of Substance conference in Vancouver by Evan, Rebecca, Lance and Logan. The Issues of Substance conference brings together diverse partners to share experiences with substance use, new research, best practice...

We are 23!!!

It was November 20, 2023 when Umbrella was founded. Starting with our outreach program, it was one person in recovery helping another person with their own recovery journey. Today, Umbrella has grown and we support thousands of people per year through a number of progra...