Covenant House Vancouver is grateful to receive Gifts-in-Kind (GIK). GIK are nonmonetary items that people donate like clothing, hygiene supplies and household items. These items help us keep costs down and directly help our young people. The story below shows the impact a donation like this can have on our youth. As you will see a special item made David’s day a whole lot brighter:
*David came to our Crisis Program and described his life as “living in survival mode” as he spent most of his life looking after his family who struggle with addiction. David shared that he is seen as the structure and strength of his family.
David struggled when he first came to the Crisis Program as he did not know how to focus on himself or look after his own health. Quickly, David had secured himself work and in no time at all had become a team lead.
After always having to be so strong he found it difficult to take time for himself. During daily check in’s, David was often thankful for support from staff. He shared that he appreciated how they were always there to look out for him and how he viewed them as a family.
We received a Gift-in-Kind item, a watch, that David has requested. David opened the GIK request and immediately had a smile from ear to ear. David stated he got, “a brand-new watch”.
We offered to recycle the packaging that it came in for him and David held the watch and packaging tight and shared, “I’m going to keep all of this forever”.
David stated that he has never received anything like this before and felt like he needed to do something in return. We explained that there is nothing expected of him, only for him to enjoy his new watch. Often the youth we work with have experienced relationships with adults where the expectation has been – I will only give you something if I get something in return – at Covenant House we work to show youth that nothing is ever expected in return for our support.
David shared he wanted to do something like write a letter for donors so that they can know the impact it has for people like him. We told him how considerate that is and that he can absolutely write a letter but there was no pressure. David showed everyone his new watch and his smile was shining all day.
Shared by Maeve a Youth Worker at our Crisis Program.
*The young persons name has been changed for confidentiality.