Advocates for the homeless are hoping to form a new society in Burnaby, but they need volunteers to be on the board first.
Wanda Mulholland from the Burnaby Task Force on Homelessness is starting the Society to End Homelessness in Burnaby, but she's looking for quality candidates for the board of directors before filling the application. The new society will carry on the work of the task force but with more stability and opportunities to apply for funding, Mulholland explained.
"As a society you are your own entity and are able to be secure in a way you're not as an informal group. It's more formal with a board of directors," Mulholland said.
The task force is a group of local organizations - including Progressive Housing, the Burnaby RCMP, Lookout Aid Society and Fraser Health - that meets monthly to share information and strategize on how best to help the homeless. The new society's main goal is to reduce and ultimately end homelessness in Burnaby.
Mulholland is hoping many of the active participants on the task force will continue working with the new society.
The volunteer commitment for board members is two to three years minimum, with approximately eight hours a month attending meetings and doing other work.
To apply, email [email protected] by Jan.12.
According to the 2014 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count, there are 58 homeless people in Burnaby, and 61 per cent have been homeless for more than five years. However, Progressive Housing Society, the main group that helps local homeless people, meets 30 to 40 new people in Burnaby who are homeless or at risk of homelessness every month.
