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The Victoria Cool Aid Society is a charitable organization wich provides shelter and other sevices to homeless youth. It was founded in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in 1968 as an emergency hostel for transient youth.

History

While Cool Aid formally began at a meeting on June 10, 1968, its roots go farther back – to the Fall of 1965 when a group of students at Victoria High School, members of the Philosopher’s Club, wanted to operate a peace club. Denied permission to run the club through the school, they organized the Student Union for Peace as an outside group. In August 1966 the group was reorganized as the Victoria Youth Council. One of the prominent members of the club was Charles Barber, later to become one of the co-founders of Cool Aid.

During April and May 1968, members of the VYC had researched, analyzed and discussed the extent and quality of helping facilities available to youth in the Greater Victoria area. For housing, the picture was “dismal” with the Salvation Army housing only men, and the YMCA housing women but charging $2.50 - $3.50 per night. For counseling, the outlook was even worse. Thus was born the idea of a hostel and an emergency-oriented, crisis intervention service, run by youth. Having obtained permission from a Vancouver group to use the name “Cool Aid,” the group obtained a phone number – 250-383-1951 that is still the number for Cool Aid’s main shelter today.

On May 1, 1969, Cool Aid opened their first hostel at 953 Balmoral Road. This meant they could continue the work started in their first year with the billeting in which they had provided 854 units of housing, counselling for 121 kids, and 29 found jobs (of part-time and limited duration). However, it became apparent that the current facilities would be stretched past capacity during the summer of 1970 and it was time to look for a larger home.

In May 1970, the Pacific Self-Development Society Board of Directors “passed the hat” at a meeting, and came up with a $1,000 deposit on the purchase of the former Emmanuel Baptist Church on Fernwood Road.

On August 18th, 1970, the Cool Aid Free Medical Clinic opened its doors. The former church on Fernwood Road was converted for Cool Aid use with the Cool Aid Youth Hostel opening on July 29, 1971. The site included the medical clinic to bring services under one roof.

On October 28th, 1976, Cool Aid was incorporated as the Victoria Cool Aid Society. The group had come of age and was no longer a group of youth with no credentials or financial savvy. It was now run by an adult board of directors and could thus access more sources of funding. On May 3rd, 1972, the "Fernwood Dental Clinic" began operation, adding to services for clients. By August 1988, it was obvious that the Fernwood Road facility was too small, and was unsuitable for the additional service that were required. The open dormitories were not popular with clients and could lead to one person with nightmares or hallucinations keeping the whole dormitory awake at night. As well, there was a desire to provide low cost housing on a permanent basis, not possible at the small site.

Purpose-built shelter and housing

On December 15, 1989 Social Services Minister Peter Dueck announced that a former meat-packing plant on Store Street would be the new home of Streetlink and other Cool Aid services. It would have 55 emergency shelter beds in two- and three-bed rooms, instead of the warehouse-style dormitories in the current shelter. The medical clinic on the main floor and large interior street prevented the indignity of clients having to line up on the street for food and beds. On the top two floors were 25 one-bedroom apartments, available for people ready for independent living, with the units to rent for 30% of a tenant’s income, that the tenants soon named “Swift House.” The Streetlink Building was a benchmark in Cool Aid’s evolution as it was a purpose-built shelter. From there Cool Aid moved from one housing project to another as they were able to tap into an increase in alternative funding.

Cool Aid’s Housing Program is specifically designed for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Greater Victoria. It demonstrates the success of how a supported, independent living, social housing, not-for-profit model can provide a very cost-effective solution to the crisis of homelessness in Canada. It began with Swift House and now includes the Pandora Apartments, Mike Gidora Place, Johnson Manor, FairWay Woods, Desmond House, Cedar Grove, Hillside Terrace, Olympic Vista and Queens Manor. In December 2004, Cool Aid first participated in the Cold, Wet Weather Strategy with other agencies to increase shelter capacity from September to April. This has now evolved to the Extreme Weather Protocol, a community response program involving shelter providers, faith groups, social service agencies, fire and police, working together to increase the number of emergency shelter beds available during acute winter weather conditions of heavy wind, heavy rain, snow and temperatures of zero or below. When extreme weather conditions are predicted and year-round shelter beds are full, participating organizations implement the Extreme Weather Protocol by opening up additional shelters and moving to overflow beds. Shelter capacity expands from 245 to 370 emergency beds and mats, including 30 mats for youth from October 15 to April 15 and 40 mats for adults from November 1 to March 31.

In 2010, the new Rock Bay Landing, a purpose-built facility, replaced the old Streetlink emergency shelter. Rock Bay offers 84 permanent shelter spaces, 23 units of transitional housing, and two units of family shelter.

Other programs

Women’s Services

Sandy Merriman House started as an emergency shelter program of the Women’s Shelter Society in 1995. Sandy Merriman was a young woman in her 20s, fighting addictions and living on welfare, when she took up a hammer along with 14 other ex-street women in 1995 to help reconstruct the home that now bears her name. During the construction process, she accidentally died of an overdose just when it appeared she was turning her life around. Until the project was launched through a government-funded program, training women in construction work, there was no safe place for homeless women to go. Men had typically dominated Victoria's emergency shelters, and many women felt neither comfortable nor safe there. In 1997, through a community development process, it was decided that the facility should be managed by Cool Aid, which now contracts with BC Housing to operate the shelter and drop-in. The program provides twenty-five shelter beds for women, meals, basic needs, crisis intervention, counseling, referrals, medication and general support. It is open throughout the day for drop-in services and for shelter stays of up to one month.

Health and Dental programs

Medical and dental services begun in the early days of Cool Aid continue to be offered in the Access Health Centre, the re-purposed Mable Carriage Factory building at 713 Johnson Street. Opened in 2009, the award-winning renovation brings health care under one roof with other social services, offering care for those who do not have medical coverage or live in the downtown core with mental health and addiction illnesses or other chronic health problems. A multitude of health services is available for the whole person without having to visit elsewhere for specialized attention.

Employment programs

In early 1993, Cool Aid began administration of a six-month pilot project funded by the Social Services Ministry. The Cool Aid Employment Services provided the only casual labour pool in Victoria. The services which aimed to help people who were finding it difficult to re-enter the workforce – the homeless, single parents, ex-offenders and immigrants – also helped find clothes and provided support to new workers as they adjusted to the workplace. By July it was established as a full time program. Today, the Casual Labour Pool, now part of the REES (Resources, Education, Employment and Support) suite of programs, continues to help workers find job placements.

Downtown Community Centre

The Centre is part of the Pandora project and offers free and low-cost community activities and facility rentals that focus on healthy living, health promotion and social diversity. The facility includes a mid-sized gymnasium, a non-commercial kitchen and computer access.

References

1. Valerie Green (2001). If These Walls Could Talk: Victoria's Houses from the Past. TouchWood Editions. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-0-920663-78-3. Retrieved 6 July 2013. - He also worked with Cool-Aid, a society which has its origins in the Cool Aid Hostel established in 1968 to provide short-term emergency shelter for transient youth, and today offers a wide range ...
2. New Zealand. Committee on Drug Dependency and Drug Abuse in New Zealand (1973). Drug dependency and drug abuse in New Zealand: second report. Board of Health. p. 197. Retrieved 6 July 2013. -Aid in Victoria and Oolagen in Toronto. Cool-Aid in Victoria was started by the Victoria Youth Council in 1968 to meet the needs of the young transients who flock to British Columbia in the summer.
3. Victoria Project Newsletter, February 17, 1969, page 1
4. 1969 Annual Report – Cool Aid
5. Letter from Roy E. L Watson, Associate Professor, University of Victoria, to Mr. Hugh Wade, December 1, 1972
6. “Peace, Brother, It’s Chow Time,” Victoria Daily Times, July 26, 1971.
7. Judith Lavoie, “Cool Aid looking to move downtown,” Times Colonist, August 11, 1988.
8. Judith Lavoie, “Cool Aid shares in $23-million rehab fund,” Times Colonist, September 21, 1988.
9. Victoria Cool Aid Society Annual Report to the Community 2005-2006, page 2.
10. Watts, Richard (July 2, 2013). "Victoria Cool Aid touts plan to solve homelessness". Times Colonist. Retrieved 6 July 2013. - Victoria Cool Aid also operates the REES (Resources, Education, Employment and Support) program to help people who live with mental illness, addictions or other issues.
11. Susan Danard, “Province kicks in for homeless shelter,” Times Colonist, April 20, 1996.

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