#It’sNiceToMeetYou

A photoblog of portraits and interviews from the streets of Vancouver, British Columbia

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Belkin House Partnership

Jul 7, 2022

Belkin House Partnership

Jul 7, 2022

We are very excited to announce Hey Stranger’s partnership with The Salvation Army Belkin House, a local shelter providing emergency shelter and transitional housing to the homeless and those who are at risk of homelessness.

Jul 7, 2022

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“What they would say time and time again is that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety; the opposite of addiction is connection. The more experiences that I have, having been through treatment, the more I find that that really is true.

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“When I relapsed it wasn’t ‘I can have a little bit. I’m better now, I can handle it’. I went out with every intention of getting obliterated because I was in more pain than I knew how to manage. I remember sitting o

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“It’s funny – people talk about rock bottom as if you hit rock bottom and you decide to get better. I don't think that is necessarily true. The thing about the concept of rock bottom is that you can always sink lower, no matter

“I didn’t grow up in this area specifically, I grew up in East Van, but I love this area (the West End) because I would go here [for] lunch. I’m Coast Salish, native, so that means I’m actually from here. It’s peaceful.

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“One person who was really influential in my life was a psychologist. I received treatment from him when I was still in the penitentiary under the auspices of children at risk, even though I was at a later stage in my life. I was in my 40

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“I was two years old when I came to Canada [from Slovenia]. Me and my mother, through the Red Cross. My father had to flee the Communist regime at the time and my mother was kind of a partisan in the Second World War. There’s a book

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“My family – my mother, my younger sister – also motivated me. I wanted my mother to go to her grave with a smile on her face. It was very important to me.

“I was in touch over the years, but I could see the sadness in

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“Once my sentence was finished, I lived in an apartment in Burnaby with my long term friend who passed away, [overdosed]. I overdosed like him too. Then my dog, who I had for many years, passed away.

“[Then,] at 70 years of age &nd

(1/5)
“Something happened at home. I was so fearful of going back home because I was terrified of my father. I was very small for my age, I looked more like a girl than a boy at 15. Long blond hair, big blue eyes. I ended up going to reformator

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“I believed in God from a young age. I grew up in the Salvation Army church with my family – they call it “corps.” I grew up in a broken family. Parents divorced, adultery stuff, and my dad remarried. That kind of took m

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“One of our values is service, and my role as a chaplain is to serve through active listening and create spiritual direction for residents. It’s about active listening, being available for crisis.

“I remember the first time w

Selfie at the Khatsahlano Street Party (July 9)!

Stay tuned for interviews from vendors and attendees.

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“Since my sister was a single mom, she got BC Housing. I wasn’t allowed to stay with her. I don’t know if this is true, but she was told that it was best for her daughter if we lived separately – because of my depression

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“One time, I was working in Lebanon and it was raining hard. I didn’t carry an umbrella. I told them that in Syria, I used to walk under guns and explosions. [So,] the rain was good.

“Life in Lebanon was very difficult. They

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“I had two cell phones because I was trying to take pictures of the war and help the revolution. For this reason, they arrested me. The soldiers in Syria asked us to get off the bus and stand in a line. I thought I was done. When they arr

We are very excited to announce Hey Stranger’s partnership with The Salvation Army Belkin House (@belkinhousevancouver), a local shelter providing emergency shelter and transitional housing to the homeless and those who are at risk of homelessn

“I grew up in a very little town in Bulgaria. We were part of the Communist regime. In the nineties, things started changing. Borders opened, so we were able to travel more. People finally had the opportunity to get out and explore the world. I

“I’m from Chile in South America. Growing up in Chile wasn’t the best experience since I’m a member of the queer community. I was at a park with my boyfriend at the time. I was leaning, resting on his shoulder and somebody thr

“Five years ago, there was this elderly lady in the West End that got her walker stolen. Pretty much a heartless criminal stole her walker…who steals a walker? I felt quite bad for her and I ended up getting a new walker for her donated

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“If you really think about it, we were “homeless” – but we weren’t homeless. We had several situations like that but we always found a roof over our heads. The challenges brought us together and made us stronger. I