Alternative Spring Break in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver

The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (DTES) is notoriously poor, crime ridden with an extremely high incidence of addiction and disease.  It is hardly the first place that comes to mind as a potential spring break destination.  For Amelia Cooke, the Downtown Eastside was exactly where she wanted to spend her week off.

In fact, Cooke had a multitude of reasons for joining the DTES Alternative Spring Break (ASB), but what motivated her most was the idea of doing community service work in her own country.

Cooke, a third year English student, was initially attracted to ASB because she had heard great things about the program from her friends who had volunteered in the past.  As a student who had never previously participated in any clubs, societies, or extracurricular Carleton activities, Cooke seized this opportunity to become more engaged in her academic community and to meet other students.

Administering a diverse set of services designed to meet the many needs of the DTES community members, Cooke and her ASB colleagues worked with several organizations throughout the course of their week. On their first day in Vancouver, the group went to The Living Room Drop In Centre which caters to people with mental health issues.  Cooke spent the day playing board games with a person she describes as a ‘Scrabble aficionado’.

“He knew words that I had never heard before, and he knew the definitions for them as well.”

The group also worked with an organization called The Downtown East Side Neighborhood House, consigning their efforts to two projects:  The Mobile Smoothie Project and The Banana Beat.  The aim of these two ventures was to provide the community members with access to healthy, whole foods.  Astutely, The Mobile Smoothie Project runs on the day before the monthly welfare cheques arrive-the date when most people struggling are most desperate to access nourishment.

With The Mobile Smoothie Project, Cooke and her ASB partners went to several organizations and centres, including Vandu, Insight, Women’s Resource Center and Oppenhiemer Park, making healthy smoothies for their clients. The Banana Beat project adhered to similar principles as The Mobile Smoothie Project.  The group went out on the streets of DTES early Wednesday and brought shopping carts full of bananas to people as they waited in line to collect their welfare cheques.

For Cooke, her activities throughout the week were all very important, but what meant most to her were the connections she was able to make.

“We listened and learned from the community about the issues surrounding poverty.  We opened our minds to new ideas, experiences and perspectives.”

Another eye opening experience was on the fourth day of the trip when Cooke and her group were given $7.85 to feed themselves for the day, roughly the same amount of money of someone  living on welfare in BC would have daily to pay for everything -food, toiletries, hygiene products, clothing, etc.

“I bought 4 dinner rolls, peanut butter, a banana, some celery stalks and a tea. That was what I had to eat for the whole day. I can tell you that everyone on our team struggled with this experience. By the end of the day I was eating peanut butter straight out of the jar and I was so hungry at that I could barely focus on anything else. I felt exhausted. I imagined what it would be like to feel this hungry and then try to go out and find a job, go to work, to class or walk my dog. It would be hard to maintain a daily routine. Also, I spent every penny of that $7.85 on food. I can’t even imagine trying to scrimp for the other things that I would need.”

Leaving Vancouver, Cooke has a new sense of herself and her country.  Though for the most part, in Canada we are quite fortunate, poverty, homelessness and addiction are still very real, prevalent problems.  Problems Cooke says we each have the capacity…or potential to remedy.

“I learned that I have the power to make change. Many of the organizations we saw that are making a difference are organizations that started with a few people and an innovative idea. In looking at large social issues I always thought, I am one person, how can I solve this huge problem? But the reality is that one person or a small group of motivated people can make large amounts of change. My team has a plan to start up something in our own community, and I think that is the best thing we could take away from this experience.”

For Cooke, the Alternative Break Program let her try something new and gave her the chance to grow as a person.  Unsurprisingly, she enthusiastically recommends the experience to all students.

“It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, gain new perspectives and experience new things. Getting outside of your comfort zone will be the best decision you will ever make!”

For more information on the Alternative Spring Break Program