Resources:

Shelters

Bill Reid Place

17752 Colebrook Rd, Surrey, BC V3S 0L5
(604) 574-4341

Salvation Army Gateway of Hope

5787 Langley Bypass, Langley City, BC V3A 0A9
604-514-7375

Stepping Stone Community Services Society

20101 Michaud Crescent, Langley City, BC V3A 8L9
(604) 530-5033

Guildford Shelter
14716 104 Ave, Surrey, BC V3R 1M3
(778) 293-0889

Substance Use Recovery

Langley Community Services Society (free treatment)

5339 207 St, Langley City, BC V3A 2E6
604-534-7230 ext 1108

Public Coin Laundry

Kascade Coin Laundry

20999 88 Ave #103, Langley City, BC V1M 2C9

Willowtree Laundry and Dry Cleaning

19665 Willowbrook Dr #112, Langley City, BC V2Y 1A5

Super Coin Laundry

101 7288 137 St, Surrey, BC V3W 1A3
Events

Soup Kitchen at Gateway of Hope

Lunch 12:30pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday &

Sunday

Dinner 5:00pm on Tuesday & Thursday

Date: 365 days a year

Success Stories for Hope

Ernest

At one point in my life I had it all; the family, the job, the life. With a few bad decisions, I
lost it all in a short period of time. This catalyst in my life led to many other struggles and
disappointments. I couldn’t seem to move forward or find anyone trustworthy to depend
on. I was alone and needed guidance and dependability.

I was referred to Gateway from a centre in Richmond who described Gateway of Hope
as “one-on-one, and a stable environment”. I applied for the Opportunities Transitional
Housing Program and was accepted. With the dedicated support of my Advisor, I have
been able to set goals and achieve them. Currently, I am working full-time and look
forward to completing the Opportunities Program and moving forward with a new
beginning.

Vince

Vince came to the Gateway of Hope lost and alone: “When I came here, I had no hope.
I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was done.” He was exhausted,
underweight, and totally isolated from his family. He was contemplating suicide. He had
spent most of his life in and out of prison and treatment centers. After another brush
with the law, his social worker refused to send him back to treatment. He had been in
treatment so many times, what was the point? He had nowhere to stay and his family
wanted nothing to do with him. None of his sons were willing to take him in. That’s when
his social worker recommended the Gateway of Hope’s Opportunities Program.

The program required that Vince be clean and sober for ninety days before admission.
He knew this was his last chance, so he hung on, stayed clean and got accepted into
the program. There was lots of work to be done to get his life in order and to
re-establish contact with his family. He wasn’t sure he could do it. Then, about a month
into the program, he went on a retreat with a group from the Gateway of Hope. It was
there that he had a conversation with Justin, the Spiritual Care Coordinator from the
Gateway of Hope. Vince had made a promise to his mom before she passed away that
he would get clean and order his life. He wasn’t sure he could keep that promise, but
Justin helped him to see how important it was to see the process through.

Vince continued in the program and grew in his recovery. It wasn’t always easy, but he
knew that with the help the Gateway of Hope provided he could make it. “I had to do the
hard work” of getting life in order, “but I needed the support.” He started to volunteer
and help others around the building. He started to smile and laugh more, bringing joy to
the staff and guests as he would stop to say hi and chat. Most importantly, he started
talking to his children again. It took time, but the relationships started to rebuild as Vince
showed he was serious and making progress in his recovery.

Upon completing the Opportunities Program, Vince’s relationship with his children had
improved to the point that he was able to move into his son’s basement suite. “My
grandkids want to see me now,” he says with a smile. He loves taking them to the park
and the beach. Vince is thankful for the changes he has been able to make in his life,
and he is certain about one thing:

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Gateway of Hope.”

David

On Friday morning, homeless web developer David Casarez woke from his park bench
in Mountain View, Calif., put on a nice shirt and tie, and carried his hand-written
cardboard sign to a nearby highway median.

“HOMELESS,” the sign read.

“HUNGRY 4 SUCCESS. TAKE A RESUME.”

It turned out to be the perfect job search strategy.

A passerby’s photo of him standing on the median holding the sign soon went viral on
Twitter, and by Saturday afternoon, he’d been flooded with more than 200 job offers.

“Google reached out to me,” the astounded 26-year-old told The Post.
“So many other companies. Pandora. A bunch of startups,” he said, speaking by phone
at a Starbucks near where he’d first gone begging — literally — for work.

“A product manager from Bitcoin.com was wondering if I could work remotely or if I want
to relocate to Tokyo,” he said, with wonder in his voice as he scrolled through the offers.

“But tonight, I’ll be back on my bench in Rengstorff Park.”

Casarez grew up in the border town of Laredo, Texas.

He earned a bachelor’s in management information systems from Texas A&M

University, landed a good web developer job at General Motors in Austin, but then
cashed out his 401(k) and drove to Silicon Valley to pursue the dream of his own tech
startup — only to run out of cash in June.

“I’d been living in my car for more than a year,” he said of his 2015 Ford Transit
Connect utility van.

“No one was hiring. I had an interview with Apple in January, but the job was filled
internally,” he said.

Casarez says he did some freelancing — a few web design and logo design jobs.

But a month ago, his van was repossessed, he said, and he’s been sleeping in the park
since.

On Friday, he dressed as best he could — “to be presentable to my future employers,”

he explained — and set out with his new sign and a stack of resumes in a FedEx
envelope.

“It was basically a make-or-break moment,” he said of his job-search breakthrough.

“I wanted to keep my head up high, keep looking forward and see what opportunity
would come next,” he added.

“I was thinking, you know, like this was like my last stop. If this didn’t work, I’d go back
home and give up on my dream.”

He’d only been standing on the median at El Camino Real and San Antonio Road for a
couple hours when a passing driver named Jasmine Scofield stopped and asked if she
could take his picture and post it online.

Sure, Casarez told her.

“Today I saw this young homeless man asking for people to take a resume rather than
asking for money,” ​she tweeted​ around 5 p.m. Friday.

“Please RT so we can help David out!”

By mid-afternoon Saturday California time, Scofield’s photos of Casarez and his resume
had been retweeted more than 50,000 times and liked nearly 70,000 times.

“It’s been happening very quickly, and I’m in shock,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that
kind of response,” he added. “It kinda blew up.”