WHO WE ARE & WHY WE HELP

Harvest Project is a community-based urban relief organization and registered Canadian charity. Since 1993, Harvest Project has been reaching out to those who are experiencing the challenges of family trauma, illness, job loss, and the threat of poverty. We connect with hundreds of people each month – as we provide one-to-one client-coaching and active-listening, a rent bank, a grocery-support program, clothing supports, assistance for workforce re-entry, food-recovery and redistribution, and our retail Clothes For Change Thrift Boutique. Harvest Project is supported by volunteers and donors from every corner of the North Shore and from across Metro-Vancouver and beyond.

Harvest Project serves the North Shore, ‘extending a hand up’ to those in need. We provide assistance to residents from Deep Cove in the east to Horseshoe Bay in the west. Our vision is to enlarge our work as a compassionate presence for North Shore residents, by North Shore residents. We’re working to help the North Shore become the most inclusive, healthy and diverse community in Canada. We aim to collaborate with the other excellent services and not-for-profit agencies operating in our community.

In one of the wealthiest regions in Canada, critical family needs are often hidden and those who find themselves in desperate times often struggle to receive social justice. About 1-in-5 North Shore households are headed by a lone-parent – representing thousands of people. These families, and many others, are at increased risk of losing access to needed physical, social and economic resources and opportunities.

We recognize the contributions of our co-founders David Foster and Emiko Nicol. David was a young West Vancouver business-person who fell on hard-times, found himself ‘on the street’, and was offered assistance by several local churches and other organizations. He came to embrace a Christian faith and was inspired to begin Harvest Project as an expression of solidarity with those in poverty, seeking justice for marginalized people, and caring for neighbours in-need.

In calendar-year 2024, Harvest Project positively impacted the community by providing:

  • 3665 Client-Care sessions, Rent Bank, Grocery, Clothing and other services, including:
    • 1203 – Client Care appointments
    • 1070 – Grocery Support Program onsite ‘shopping’ appointments
    • 213 – Nutrition Pathway appointments
    • 1054 – Clothing ‘shopping’ appointments in our Clothes For Change Support Program
    • 185 – Art therapy, career, money management, and tutoring appointments
  • $642,708 – value of Grocery Support Program groceries shared + grocery gift-cards and food-bags
  • $36,124 – Value of Emergency Food Program Bags provided
  • $88,258 – Value of North Shore Rent Bank loans
  • 13,604 – Volunteer-hours contributed over 3859 shifts (plus 53 groups contributing 829 hours)

Positive Impact:

  • 432 – Clients and dependents supported (Client Care, Grocery, Clothing and other services)
  • 413 – Emergency Food Program clients and dependents served – increasing food-security
  • 99 – People kept housed by Rent Bank loans (815 residents and $617,000 since its beginning)
  • Collaboration with other agencies and corporate and community social responsibility teams
  • 62 Presentations on social justice shared with 1,312 community members
  • Restored individual and family health that enables participation in community and economy
  • North Shore’s social and economic health improved

Download a copy of our impact statement here: 2024 Impact Statement – Harvest Project

MOTTO & MISSION

Our motto: “Extending a hand up, not a hand out.” This directs us to extend a hand to lift people up rather than simply dispensing a hand-out.

Our mission: “To serve people who are experiencing challenging life circumstances by providing physical, emotional and spiritual support that empowers each one to take positive steps in their lives.” Harvest Project assists individuals and families by providing vital resources so that each one can regain wellness and participate more fully within the North Shore community.

We contribute to a holistic support network that addresses the needs of vulnerable children and adults. Serving the community by working to restore our neighbors to health and stability benefits our whole community.