Albina turns 1

Yesterday was a day for celebration at the Albina site where Umbrella works with Our Place. It was one year ago that the newly purpose built housing site had completed building and had residents moving in. The weather held out, burgers were grilled, cake was eaten and f...

RBC Chat

Today, folks from RBC branches joined Evan and Sharlene for a conversation about Umbrella and how RBC can help. We at Umbrella love partnering with RBC, they share a similar community vision and values as we do and they enjoy supporting non-profits, like Umbrella, to make...

Resident Bowling

On Wednesday night, all the residents from our three houses met at Foundation House for pizza and then they headed out to Langford Lanes for some fun bowling. Staff Zack, Kelsey and Erik all joined in on the fun and Erik beat everyone at bowling!! These events are reall...

Vic High Resource Fair

Today, Sean and Evan are at the Resource Fair at Vic High School. This is an important event to be at, to answer questions, provide support and make connections. This all day resource fair, is also an opportunity for community members to learn more about Umbrella and fo...

Administrative Professionals Day

Today is Administrative Professional Day and we think this is a pretty important day. Sharlene took the admin team for lunch and a bit of self care and fun, while Blake and Jake manned the office. Admin are the foundation of every organization and we couldn't do the wor...

Grade 11 students

Last Friday, Evan and Rebecca spent the afternoon with the grade 11 students at St Michaels. This was another engaged and curious group of students. The questions these students submit anonymously and ask at each of the session we host, are thoughtful and genuine. This...

Podcast Season 2/E11 – Stefanie

In today’s episode, we sit down with Stefanie who has a personal recovery journey full of resiliency and self actualization. Stefanie shares insights on the current state of our community as her desire to give back and help those in addiction has seen her support a wide s...

Victoria Foundation Visit

Today, our friends from the Victoria Foundation, Tracy and Sushil, came to Foundation House for a tour and to learn more about the work we are doing in recovery housing. Evan, Erik and Sharlene shared about the house, the history and Erik shared his experience as a resid...

Grade 10 students

Tuesday Evan and Rebecca spent several hours with the Grade 10 students at St Michaels. This was a very engaged group and many stayed after to ask questions. Our team fielded more than 20 questions about substance use and how it impacts their brains, their families, thei...

Adios Albina!

Today Sean had his last day at Albina. Sean is moving into an Outreach role at Umbrella, but has really captured the hearts of the residents and our Our Place partners. They had a little going away shin dig for him. Josh is staying put at Albina and our new Lucy is joi...