Everyone deserves basic human dignity — everyone deserves to feel safe, supported and cared for — but for many people, those things can seem too far out of reach. They shouldn’t be.
Over 30 years ago, Samaritan House opened in Nanaimo when a group of concerned community members saw a need to help — it was a labour of love, when, with rolled-up sleeves, the founders of what would become ICCS (Island Crisis Care Society), fixed up a nearly derelict house with the intention of filling the need of a safe place for those experiencing homelessness in the community. This initial work evolved over the years, becoming primarily an emergency shelter for women, striving to meet the changing needs of the community. In complement, ICCS programs also grew, now encompassing 12 programs across seven sites in Nanaimo and Oceanside.
Growing hope to shape the future
Since planting that humble seed, the need for help has only grown, and fortunately, so too has ICCS. Back in 2017, the “More Room For Hope” campaign was launched with the aim of building a bigger community facility to house the original Samaritan House. It was their first formal fundraiser of such a huge size and it seemed like they might never reach their goal — until the initiative caught the eye of ICCS longterm supporter, BC Housing who, after months of consultation and collaboration, included the project in their supportive housing plans for the Nanaimo community — and so Samaritan Place became a reality. It’s a win-win, providing an impressive new facility and funding to support the client focused programming that characterises ICCS programs.
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Finding connection and creating community
It’s hard for many of us to imagine true hardship — and sometimes the only person who can truly understand what it feels like to walk your path is someone who has walked it already. Through ICCS’s many programs, participants find mutual support and camaraderie. The stories that many of the participants have to tell are truly heartbreaking — with many finding themselves in a place where they were no longer in control of their lives through no fault of their own.
Through Samaritan Place, ICCS will continue to focus on clients’ connection and reconnection with the greater community, giving participants a way to regain their sense of self and sense of value by offering many invaluable programs such as:
- Bridge to Housing, offering women in need a place to stay in an emergency situation
- Supportive Housing, providing 51 supportive-housing units for those who need longer-term support to make a plan to move forward
- A Family Unit, similar to the Bridge to Housing, but specifically for families experiencing a housing emergency
More broadly, wider ICCS programs are also growing as the organisation seeks to find new ways to meet the spectrum of realities that its program participants face One such innovation, Project Rise, will start a few weeks after the opening of Samaritan Place, providing participants with pre-employment training and employment placements with local businesses
Elspeth Erickson, Development and Communications Manager of ICCS notes that through all of ICCS programs, “We want to allow people to remember that they have value and that someone cares — everyone deserves to have a roof over their head — everyone deserves a chance to rebuild their lives. These are compelling stories of such pain, adversity, loss of hope and loss of self-worth — we want to allow anyone who needs it to have a chance to breathe and to start again. We want to meet them where they are now.”
New horizons bring possibilities
The community has rallied round too, providing the touches that make a house a home. Local artists have donated over 80 pieces of art, while another group of local artisans have helped to brighten the already beautiful space with hand-made, quilted wall hangings. Elspeth notes that, “Art is important — it brings joy. It speaks to the possibilities within the human spirit, just like the vista of the sea visible from our wonderful new facility shows the possibilities in the wider world, and the potential for hope.”
For more information on the programs at Island Crisis Care Society, go to islandcrisiscaresociety.ca, call