About Eastside Family Place
History of the Eastside Family Place Society
Eastside Family Place (ESFP) started the community work to open a family place in Grandview - Woodland in 1978 and was incorporated as a non profit society in April 1979. We have been providing services to this area ever since. ESFP was originally located at 924 Commercial Drive.
Our first executive director was assisted by just 2 staff members and a committed group of 12 volunteers. This group established ESFP to meet the need in East Vancouver for a drop-in centre that would support parents with pre-school aged children.
During the next 6 years ESFP occupied a number of different buildings along Commercial Drive. In the midst of the 1980s recession a funding crisis developed due to a series of government cutbacks. ESFP was left scrambling for funds to avoid closure. Fortunately, the City of Vancouver came through with an emergency grant to keep ESFP open. This began a massive letter writing campaign to let the Provincial Government know just how much ESFP was needed by the community it served. A major thrust of this campaign was a request for help to relocate to a more permanent site. In the end, ESFP's staunchest support came from our community. Britannia Community Centre provided a site; the City provided a grant of $25,000 to purchase a portable and the Vancouver School Board helped the ESFP staff to design the space. That portable, on the north side of Grandview Park was opened in 1986 and, with its purple door and gaily painted cows, served thousands of families over the course of 16 years.
Over that same 16 years the mandate of ESFP expanded to include so much more than the drop-in program. Parenting programs such as COPE, Nobody's Perfect and various cultural support groups were added. A summer day camp was developed for children from 4-6 years. In the beginning ESFP served a population comprised mainly of single parents and their children. Eventually we began to see families of all compositions. Single fathers, single mothers, at home parents, same sex parents, people of all racial and cultural backgrounds, grandparents, caregivers, and family daycare providers all came to ESFP programs. Once there, they received support, understanding, a snack or a meal, clothing, parenting resources or just a kind word. Often they formed valuable friendships that also helped them navigate the difficult waters of raising children. ESFP had become a centre of community for all our participants.
As the number of participants grew, so did the need for more space. This need was felt most urgently with regards to the parenting groups and programs ESFPoffered. ESFP leased a separate space in which to hold groups while children were looked after in the main building. This was far from ideal, and detracted from participants' ability to benefit fully from the programs. The board and staff decided that more space was needed and approached the City of Vancouver about the problem.
In 1998 ESFP joined in partnership with Britannia Community Centre to build a new building on the current site. A huge fundraising campaign was launched. The City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Foundation, the Millenium fund, the Gaming branch and members of the community, all contributed greatly. An architect was hired and plans were underway to build our new home. After many modifications, countless meetings, consultations and extremely hard work on the part of the ESFP board and staff construction began in the spring of 2001. During construction the staff moved the Drop-in program to the multipurpose room beside the ice rink at Britannia. They continued to offer the same supportive, nonjudgmental service that our community had come to depend on. In the fall of 2002, Eastside Family opened the doors of its new building to the community. Since moving into our beautiful new home, we have focused our energies on responding to the community's requests for expanded food programs, longer hours, quality child minding and support. We now offer a myriad of programs, workshops and referral services. ESFP has met a number of past challenges head on and will continue to do so. We have always strived to serve the needs of our community. The phrase, "Family Place saved my life" has been used many times to describe the passion which many of our participants feel towards ESFP. Parents who feel validated and supported in their work are simply better parents. The positive energy created by a truly supportive environment goes much further than our walls. It runs out into the parks and streets and homes of our community.
Financial Support
Eastside Family Place gratefully aknowledges the support of the following