SCM Vancouver (UBC)
WHAT IS SCM AT UBC?
SCM at UBC is an interdenominational Christian organization dedicated to following Christ by working with and for Vancouver’s poorest – the residents of the Downtown Eastside and homeless people in general. Our aims and methods are informed by scripture, and we seek to mobilize UBC students to get involved in these issues by volunteering for ministries that serve the homeless and engaging in political activism on issues of economic justice.
WHAT IS THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE?
The Downtown Eastside is the oldest neighborhood in Vancouver and the poorest postal code in North America. In spite of sitting a few blocks from Downtown Vancouver, the heart of one of the most vibrant urban economies in the world, it has a Hep C rate of 70% and an HIV infection rate of 30% – the same as Botswana. 40% of the residents of the Downtown Eastside are aboriginal, most of whom were subjected to the abuse and neglect that characterized Canada’s residential school system. Drugs, mental illness and preventable diseases (e.g. TB and the Flu) also plague the neighborhood. It is also a high volume area for Vancouver’s sex trade.
WHAT CAN I DO?
You can start by writing your MP, MLA and/or city counselor and telling them that you care about poverty – make sure that all of your friends do the same. When you write, please be courteous, concise and most of all, specific. In particular, you can send a postcard to BC Premier Gordon Campbell asking him to stop the transformation of social into market housing in Vancouver. Postcards are available for downnload at the following web address.
http://www.my-calm.info/files/O8_PDF/Campbellpostcard-June25thFINAL.pdf
But political change is, ultimately, just part of a larger solution to poverty. The root of the problem is the kind of society we live in – one in which we are divided by socioeconomic and racial barriers. As Ric Matthews, the Pastor of First United Church in the Downtown Eastside likes to say, “the most effective political statement you can make is to come and be part of an inclusive community.” Therefore we encourage you to become part of an organization in the Downtown Eastside. Maybe that means volunteering, but it doesn’t have to. Working, going to Church or doing any of the things you ordinarily do in other neighborhoods in the Downtown Eastside are also important ways that you can help foster the kind of inclusive community that we need to see. Most importantly, actually visiting the neighborhood will change you in ways that you can’t begin to imagine and this website can’t begin to describe.
After that, come out to an SCM meeting and help us plan events and actions that will get the campus mobilized to fight for God’s justice in the world!
WHAT IF I’M NOT CHRISTIAN?
SCM welcomes and encourages people from all faith backgrounds to come to its meetings. As a Christian organization, we are under a biblical obligation to extend our hospitality to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether or not they share our beliefs, so long as they have an interest in SCM’s basic work and identity. While SCM meetings do include religious activities (e.g. prayer and bible reading), participation in these is not a requirement for membership in the group. All that we ask is that non-Christians sit respectfully during these times, as, for those who are called to Christ’s radically new way of doing activism, they are essential parts of the meeting.
Our meetings are every Tuesday at 5:00 PM in the UBC Resource Groups Center (SUB 245). Come and be blessed!
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Contact
Local Unit Coordinator (President): Gregory Williams
United Church Campus Ministry
#226-6000 Iona Drive
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1L4
- Tel: 778 918 8145
- Email: scm.ubc@gmail.com
