Blog

Kelty Millar and her friends from St. Anthony's School in West Vancouver brought the Christmas spirit to our program on Friday. They collected and wrapped 50 stuffed toys for our refugee children. In addition, Kelty’s mom Joanne and her company Pacific Destination Services made a donation to our Early Years Refugee Program. Heartfelt thanks to Kelty, Joanne, and Pacific Destination Services team!

Some of our Syrian families enjoyed their first Christmas in Canada concert at Vancouver Playhouse on Monday. Over twenty children from Circles and Care Connection received a special Christmas present from Mayor Gregor Robertson. The concert was organized in support of new immigrants and refugees in our community and sponsored by the City of Vancouver, Chinese Canadian Military Society and the NADEN Band, Royal Canadian Navy. 

On December 1^st, the Mount Pleasant Family Centre Society proudly celebrated its 40^th year of service. The Open House was held at the Family Centre and it was filled with parents, children, alumni and our community partners. KOKA Architecture presented a visual and interactive floor plan of the Family Centre. To enhance families’ ideas, the visioning tree was showcased on our wall. Photo journals also illustrated four decades of service. The highlight of the evening was the ribbon cutting ceremony, which officially opened our new playground. We were honored to have Acting Mayor Raymond Louie attend and assist with the ribbon cutting. Many thanks to our dedicated staff for all their hard work planning and preparing for this big event.

Our door prize winners are...

Shahira Sakiyama

Diane Elliot-Buckley

Stephen Elliot-Buckley

Come to the Family Centre to claim your prize!

Our Circles of Care and Connection Early Years Refugee Program  was one of the nominees  for  British Columbia Multicultural Awards.  On November 18, as part of the celebrations of B.C.’s Multiculturalism Week,  the Government of B.C. with advice and support from the Province's Multicultural Advisory Council (MAC),  hosted the British Columbia Multicultural Awards event. The event recognizes  the multicultural accomplishments of individuals, organizations and businesses and celebrates  British Columbia's cultural diversity.  

The CCC program had a pleasant surprise last Friday. Over 20 students and their teachers from King David High School brought donations for our refugee clients. The visit was part of their annual event called Random Acts of Chessed (Hebrew word Chessed means Kindness). It is a weeklong event where all of their students go out to a particular location to help and serve any way they can. One of the school counsellors stated that they were all very  happy to be able to come to the Welcome Centre and see "all the wonderful things that the Circles of Care and Connection program does for vulnerable families who come to Canada for safety".