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Mission: The Vancouver Friends For Life Society serves as a catalyst to enhance the wellness of individuals living with life threatening illness by providing complementary and alternative health and support services. Founded in 1993, the Vancouver Friends For Life Society began as a grassroots, community-based response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Founding members of the Society saw the impact that the epidemic was having on friends and family, and were moved to take action and respond to the crisis. It was their understanding of how an organization might facilitate healing be providing complementary and alternative health and wellness therapies as well as nutrition programs that has allowed so many of our members move from simply surviving, to fully thriving.
Once housed in a small apartment on Beach Avenue, Friends For Life is now a comprehensive health and wellness centre for over 700 members living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious medical conditions. Over 60 different types of programs are provided to our membership, with services that include:
q bodywork (massage therapy, shiatsu, Reiki, reflexology, chiropractic),
q alternative therapies including Traditional Chinese Medicine and Naturopathy,
q yoga,
q meditation,
q one-to-one counseling,
q art therapy,
q support groups,
q a drop-in centre and resource library, and
q a comprehensive nutrition program that provides 7200+ meals a year.
q for members in the palliative stages of illness, we offer in-home care through our Home Team Program.
Friends For Life is a model for independent funding, with less than 9% of our revenues coming from government sources. We are also a leader in the volunteer sector - this past year a total of $801,035 worth of services, or 21,330 volunteer hours, were donated to the Society. With a staffing contingent of only 6 FTE, the volunteers – physicians, therapists, certified counselors and other health care practitioners – who donate their time and expertise are key to our success. They also allow us to provide all of our services at no charge to our membership, often to persons who could not otherwise afford them.
The Diamond Centre for Living is open 7 days/week, 76 hours/week. The tremendous support we enjoy from the larger community ensures that Friends for Life can follow through on our commitment to being available when our members need us the most.
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