Linwood House Ministries

Saving Lives... One Bar of Soap at a Time

LHM is very pleased to be in partnership with Mission Possible--great friends of ours also working in the DTES--and Clean The World, of Orlando, Florida, in an exciting new project!

Here’s the announcement from Clean The World’s latest newsletter:

Clean the World expands in the Great White North
Vancouver facility - Open, accepting and feeling good

Clean the World and Mission Possible, a downtown Eastside Vancouver charity, have teamed to help rid the Canadian landfills of needless waste, while providing jobs and delivering life-saving soaps to people in need.

The new facility officially opened Aug. 16 and already has received positive media attention and community support. Brian Postlewait, executive director of Mission Possible, says the effort to recycle soaps will also help change the face of the community in downtown Vancouver.



“We want to set up a hotel collection system, soap processing operation and market for local buyers,” says Postlewait. “Many of the women from Linwood House Ministries who are employed in this effort to help clean and sanitize the hotel soaps and bottled amenities are residents of the impoverished Eastside. They need a helping hand to get their lives back on track.

"Now they can recapture personal pride and responsibility by working for a good cause, while also knowing that their efforts will help others in similar situations lead healthier lives.”



The soaps and shampoos will be distributed to local homeless shelters and to communities in need around the world through Clean the World’s distribution network and strong global partnerships. 

“It’s a simple solution to the complex problem of fatal disease,” says Postlewait. “We hope to be a big part of that solution by improving lives at home and abroad. It feels good to be a part of that.”

And do you recognize that beautiful, smiling face above? That’s our friend Grace, a long-time member of the Linwood House family. (And our friend Brian Postlewait in the background.)

Read about the role Clean The World's global partners Floating Doctors and World Vision have played in helping to distribute the recycled soap around the world here. We are very happy to be a part of such an incredible project.

From Gwen McVicker, President of LHM:

Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn write in Half the Sky "We hope to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women's power as economic catalysts. That is the process under way--not a drama of victimization but of empowerment, the kind that transforms bubbly teenage girls from brothel slaves into successful businesswomen." And we would add, the kind that transforms abused, addicted, prostituted women into successful businesswomen contributing to the community in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and to the world. Please join this journey and give so that many more women can be recruited and trained for this project.

If you would like to donate specifically to this exciting work, please designate your gift “Clean The World project”. This category can also be found on our CanadaHelps online giving page.

A Summer Time Journey

Two weeks ago we held our annual August summer Journey, with the theme of summer vacation.

It was not hard to do. The Sunshine Coast has been living up to it's reputation; the skies were blue, the sun was shining, the breezes were warm and the beach was calling! We packed everything we could think of that said "vacation" into three days - reading, napping, nature, a trip to the local movie theatre, the creation of memory boxes to capture all of the great moments, a bbq, and even an impromptu birthday party for Ron. But I think the best memory for everyone was our day at the beach. On Wednesday morning we packed up a picnic lunch and headed to Porpoise Bay Provincial park. We found the perfect spot on the beach, ate lunch, talked, swam, explored all of the creatures there (crabs and jellyfish to name a few!) and even napped. After lunch Bev, a great friend and Board member, roared up to the shore in her speed boat and began an afternoon of taking us all tubing! I think you could hear our laughter all the way back to the shore. For many of the women it was a brand new experience, an opportunity to step out with courage into a new adventure, to embrace an "I can do it" attitude and it was wonderful to be witness to that.

On the last morning we sat in a circle together and shared the things we're were going to take home with us and also the things we were going to leave behind - some of the burdens that perhaps we had come with, the things that were weighing us down, causing us worry and anxiety. As each woman shared about the one thing she wanted to leave behind, we wrote them on a piece of paper and tossed them into an old suitcase.

"My mind chaos."
"My old life."
"My self doubt."
"My fears about my future."
"My emotional mindfield, that causes me to stagnate and get stuck."
"My fear of failure."
"My broken heart."

Please pray for our friends, for these and the many other things that each and every heart has desired to leave behind. And may there truly be an exchange in the heavenlies that brings each woman closer to a life restored of value, dignity and purpose.

Linwood Art Experience 2010

We're very please to invite you to our Fourth Annual Linwood Art Experience!

Mark your calendar and make plans to join us for what has become a very special day.

September 19, 2010
1pm to 5pm
3144 Linwood Road,
Roberts Creek, BC

Come experience the work of some very talented local artists. As usual, there will be food, music and friends in abundance. Proceeds will go toward the work of Linwood House Ministries.

Click here to see work from this year's featured artists

See photos from previous Experiences here and here

Feel The Love

Our friend and sister Idelette (blog / twitter) is spending the weekend in the Downtown Eastside with pen, paper and video camera. Here she asks Elizabeth what the Great Room means to her:

Link to Idelette's post
Link to YouTube