Community Partners - Crofton House School

Power of Partnerships

The proceeds from the 2025 Winter Bazaar support the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Backpack Buddies.

Through reciprocal relationships with these organizations, the CHS community supports their important work to positively impact the lives of women, girls and families. In turn, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and Backpack Buddies support our students through purposeful learning opportunities.

Getting to Know our Partners

Over the past decade, proceeds from the Winter Bazaar have supported various local community organizations in the important work they do, in particular with children and women. These partnerships have grown beyond financial support to include student learning and volunteer opportunities, collection drives, and the use of CHS facilities by partners.

Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (2024 - 2028)
Backpack Buddies (2025 -2028)

Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (2024 - 2028)

“We would like to thank the parents and students at CHS from the bottom of our hearts for their tireless work on the Winter Bazaar and throughout the year! We are so grateful for the efforts you have all been doing in the past years to provide clothing, yummy snacks and financial donations and in co-building an intergenerational connection program with the Chinese Seniors. We are so grateful for this partnership and all the support we receive from your community.”

Created in 1978 by a group of women who recognized the urgent need for a safe space for women in the Downtown Eastside, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre is now a vital part of our community. The Centre offers a safe, non-judgmental environment for women, including cis, trans, and Two-Spirit individuals who live and/or work in the neighbourhood.

Across five low-barrier sites, the Centre provide a wide range of supports and services, from basic needs like meals and safe washrooms, to counselling, housing outreach, sexual assault response, mental health advocacy, and culturally specific programming for Indigenous women and Chinese seniors. They also operate two 24-hour emergency shelters for women experiencing homelessness, offering a total of 100 beds, 365 days a year. Every day, more than 1,200 women access the Centre's services.

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Backpack Buddies (2025 -2028)

“Backpack Buddies is delighted to partner with Crofton House. Over the next three years, we will engage students, alumnae, staff, and families in the story of children right here in our community who go home to empty cupboards. Together, we can do something about that, and we can’t wait to get started.”

Backpack Buddies is a BC-based non-profit that delivers healthy meals and snacks to over 6,000 children facing food insecurity, especially on weekends and holidays when school meals are unavailable. Started by a mother and daughter in 2012, Backpack Buddies team collaborates with educators, administrators, social workers, and other non-profits to deliver over 1.65 million meals to children in 73 communities across BC last school year. This partnership offers the CHS community a meaningful way to explore the root causes of hunger in BC and to make an impact for local families.

Looking Back

A look back at some of our previous community partners.

Women Leaders of Tomorrow (2024)

Women Leaders of Tomorrow is a group of Afghan women and supporters of women and girls’ education and empowerment. A registered charity established in 2021, they seek to close the gender gap in Afghanistan by facilitating the emergence of a new generation of female leaders in sports, business, government and non-traditional occupations. Their primary focus is on helping Afghan women obtain a world-class education.

When the Afghan central republican government collapsed in August 2021 and the Taliban returned to power, they banned education for women and girls above third and sixth grade. Women Leaders of Tomorrow focuses on providing scholarship opportunities at Canadian educational institutions. To date, they have secured 28 full-ride scholarships in Canada, and 25 scholars are presently pursuing education at Canadian secondary and post-secondary institutions.

Our partnership with Women Leaders of Tomorrow continues beyond Winter Bazaar. Two Afghan students graduated from Crofton House in June 2024, and we welcomed two new young women to CHS in September 2024. CHS and Women Leaders of Tomorrow work closely on many initiatives within the school and beyond.

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The KidSafe Project (2017–2023)

KidSafe provides essential services to vulnerable children and youth annually during periods when schools are traditionally closed. The 2023 Winter Bazaar raised a total of over $59,000 to contribute to KidSafe programs and provided nutrition programming and meals for 280 participants for two weeks at seven Vancouver schools; funded a summer break excursion for 400 participants; and hired two program support workers for eight weeks of summer break programs. Between 2017 and 2023, Kidsafe received over $400,000 in from the proceeds of Winter Bazaar. The agreement for support from Winter Bazaar to KidSafe reached its established endpoint in 2023. However, the School’s relationship with Kidsafe continues through Ivy Compass and service learning.

CLICK (2015–2016)

Contributing to the Lives of Inner City Kids (CLICK) is an umbrella platform that offers funding to programs that provide food, after-school care, sports and camping opportunities, and literacy programs. Since 2004, CLICK has directed over $1.5 million to more than 600 programs, benefitting children and youth so they can succeed. CLICK received $35,000 in proceeds from the Bazaar in both 2015 and 2016.

“The Downtown Eastside Womens' Centre is deeply grateful for the continued support from Crofton House. The Winter Bazaar is a powerful example of what a community can accomplish when people come together with generosity and care.”Alice Kendall, Executive Director, Downtown Eastside