A Better Life Foundation feeds marginalized people in the Downtown Eastside in a restaurant setting. Executive director Ash MacLeod: “We want to take pessimism and turn it into hope.” Read on: bit.ly/4hdExPj

Organizations serving the DTES attended the PHS/Dudes Club Gathering of First Nations Service Providers. More than 70 people took part in a morning of community, networking and mutual support, earlier in the week. There was drumming and shared food. Culture is medicine.

Special thanks to the Vancouver Community College fashion students who sewed fleece toques, mitts and scarves for people in the DTES. VCC Fashion and Creative Courses Program Coordinator Sarah Murray called round with the finished items for distribution.

The UK's legal drug consumption room was driven by one man’s civil disobedience. Peter Krykant went on the road with his own safe consumption van to show the process saves lives, reduces disease and brings stability to street-entrenched drug users. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Victoria's bylaw-first approach to Pandora Ave homelessness has pushed the tents to nearby streets. UVic nursing professor Bernie Pauly: “When we displace people, we are pushing them further into homelessness as opposed to showing them a pathway out.” timescolonist.com/islander/embed…

BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon: without supportive housing “you have people living in parks, living in encampments, sleeping on bus stops that is actually more unsafe for communities than having people indoors with the support they need.” vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/01/23/van…

Physicians are planning unsanctioned pop-up overdose prevention sites at hospitals across Canada following the BC model. Organizer Dr. Eva Hemmerich told Filter | harm reduction journalism: “There have been people dying in the bathroom. Or in the forest. In the bushes.” filtermag.org/overdose-preve…

The race is ON! Early bird registration is now open for the Under Armour Eastside 10K, an iconic Vancouver run through historic neighbourhoods on Sunday September 21, 2025. To sign up and/or support PHS: canadarunningseries.com/vancouver-east… #UAEastside10K RunCRS West

It would cost the City of Victoria $4.7 million to keep moving homeless people from Pandora Avenue. Ron Rice, of Victoria Native Friendship Centre: “Telling someone, ‘You can't be homeless here, go be homeless over there,’ is not a solution.” More: bit.ly/4hi6Qwf

Rest in power Shawn Giroux: you supported our community in many ways. We're hosting a celebration of Shawn's life on Thursday, Feb. 13 at the InterUrban Gallery (1 East Hastings St.) between 2 - 5 pm.

Victoria support workers are busy replacing warm belongings taken from homeless people by bylaw officers. "They take away their blankets, and then it snows,” said Niki Ottosen of Victoria Backpack Project. “The situation is really desperate out there." timescolonist.com/local-news/out…

The City of Vancouver spent $3m on enforcing and then dismantling the CRAB Park homeless encampment. That could have funded 200 tiny shelters - Councillor Pete Fry. globalnews.ca/news/11006228/…

PHS Board issues Open Letter in support of dedicated frontline workers. Open to new signers. Let us know if you’d like to add your name to this call for respect for those at the forefront of combatting homelessness and public health crises. phs.ca/recognizing-th…

Did you know we're also posting at Bluesky? Check it out. It’s an alternative platform to Twitter that’s gaining momentum.

"We are still losing five or six people every single day of every week of every month" - former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe. "Anything we can do to address the harms, to reduce the deaths, I am wholeheartedly in support of." Doctors' OD prevention site: bit.ly/3CQsiJZ

We recently received a generous donation of $150,000 from our friends B2Gold Corp. to help us care for people who need our help the most in Vancouver and Victoria. Since 2020, B2Gold has donated almost $1 million to PHS and we are incredibly thankful for their continued support.

"Supportive housing reduces pressure on public services." Amanda Burrows & Genesa Greening write that supportive housing reduces emergency calls by 32 per cent. vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/…

Profound respect and love to everyone who brought such clear evidence and spoke so movingly against the outrageous claims of the majority of Vancouver City Council who voted to“ help” those most in need … by denying them housing. There is strength is our unity.

Greater Vancouver Food Bank’s generous donation of two pallets of menstrual products will make a real difference for residents at our shelters and housing who are in need. Period poverty is real.

We're going to be focusing on other digital spaces and posting less on Twitter. Search for PHS Community Services Society on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and/or LinkedIn.