Here's how the Gospel Mission is making Kelowna a better place

It was 1977 when a few students from the Okanagan Bible School decided to visit Kelowna City Park weekly and offer coffee and conversation.

But as winter approached, it became apparent there would be a need to shelter vulnerable people from the cold.

The students opened a drop-in centre that grew to be Kelowna’s Gospel Mission (KGM) Society a year later.

In the 40-plus years that the organization has existed, homelessness has changed a lot.

But that is not lost on executive director Carmen Rempel.

“The reasons why people come and walk through the shelter doors are complex and nuanced. And KGM’s response must be relentlessly compassionate and intelligent,” she said.

The work, she admits, is not easy. But it is vital, brutal work, that requires brains, heart, and guts.

KGM is just one piece of a large group of service providers addressing homelessness in the city. And that system, she said, must be nurtured, as well as the community that surrounds people facing homelessness.

“We want people to leave our services better than how they arrived,” she added. “From our shelter to the dental clinic, we are about transforming people’s lives for the better.”

She and her staff realize that the reasons why people come into homelessness in the first place are complex and nuanced.

That’s why KGM’s programming must be more than just a bed and a sandwich.

“We have to do more than just meet basic needs,” she added.

Her outreach teams scour alleyways and underpasses every day, finding people where they are and beginning to meet their needs.

KGM works with several partners within the community to create a full continuum of care for people to move up and out of homelessness.

“At KGM, we know that our vision isn’t necessarily about ending homelessness but about creating a community that is leading towards wholeness.”

Help Kelowna's Gospel Mission build a community of people being made whole. Donate today at kelownagospelmission.ca.