There’s an adage that says many hands make light work. That saying holds true in Greater Victoria as organizations and individuals work to move forward together, featured in the Victoria Foundation's latest edition of Pulse magazine.
Pulse is an annual publication that highlights how the Victoria Foundation and other organizations in our community are working to build on the findings in the Foundation’s annual Vital Signs report. Stories across the print magazine and online blog illustrate how organizations and individuals can move forward together to create a vibrant, caring community for all.
"The last few years have seen multiple challenges across our region, from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change and affordability,” says Sandra Richardson, CEO of the Victoria Foundation. “Solutions to these issues will not come from one person, organization, or community, but from all of us moving forward together.”
One example is a story of men living and learning together to support one another in achieving sustainable sobriety. ‘Better through Brotherhood’ highlights the work of the New Roads Therapeutic Recovery Community, operated by Our Place Society. What was once a concrete court, now features a vibrant garden where men in the program can have either privacy or companionship. Funding for the healing garden and the purchase of a transition home was made possible through the JAYMAC Fund at the Victoria Foundation.
“We turned that paved courtyard into a healing garden,” says Cheryl Diebel, director, Our Place Society.
In Pulse, there are also stories highlighting the impact of the Victoria Foundation’s 2021 Community Recovery Program. In addition, you can find out more about the Mary Hill Indigenous Protected Area Project and Surrounded by Cedar.
New this year is an online version of Pulse, where you can read additional stories of community working together, along with digital versions of the magazine stories.
You can learn more about the Victoria Foundation’s $10 million Impact Investing portfolio, part of which is allocated to Vancity to support their Affordable Housing Accelerator Fund. The fund works to improve access to affordable housing and social-purpose real estate throughout British Columbia. The fund supports organizations like the Mount Douglas Senior Housing Society in Saanich. Their two buildings, Mount Douglas Court and Mount Douglas Manor, now provide 84 affordable rental homes for low-income seniors due, in part, to support from the fund.
Whether it’s a downtown arts hub or the next generation of community builders and philanthropists, you can read more on communities moving forward together in the latest edition of Pulse. Find the latest issue and visit the online blog at VictoriaFoundation.bc.ca.
