Journey Home Community Update
Fall 2025 Edition
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
Welcoming the Stranger, Building Community:
A 20–Year Journey
—Brad Kinnie
This fall, gratitude echoed through our community — in prayers, songs, and laughter — as newcomers found belonging through Journey Home Community.
This is a year to celebrate! It’s Journey Home Community’s birthday and we are remembering 20 years of significant moments and celebrating the remarkable and resilient refugees who have arrived in Canada aft
On October 15, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our bi-weekly community dinner, where more than 50 program participants from the Middle East, Africa, and South America gathered to enjoy a potluck meal featuring turkeys prepared by students from John Knox Christian School.
I’d like to share two lasting impressions from this beautiful evening.
First, during our celebration, we invited attendees to write something they were thankful for on orange and yellow maple leaf cutouts. Many expressed gratitude for their families and new friendships in Canada. One participant wrote, “I’m thankful to God for new life, new people, and to the Journey Home family.” A mother shared, “I’m thankful I have a roof over the head of my children.” Another simply said, “I’m thankful for life and that I’m still alive.”
These reflections capture the heart of what happens within Journey Home Community. Inspired by God’s love, we are building a caring community by offering housing, orientation, essential resources, connection, and friendship with refugee claimants. And the response is gratitude: “Thank you for a roof over our heads.” “Thank you for my family and my new Journey Home family.” “Thank you that I’m alive.”
The second enduring impression from the evening was a spontaneous celebration—a Kurdish folk music concert. Earlier that day, a new family from Northern Iraq had been welcomed into our community, and the Thanksgiving dinner was their first introduction. Moved by the warmth of the gathering and filled with gratitude, they offered a gift in return. The talented musicians played a Kurdish drum, a violin, and a piano to create beautiful music. As they played, someone began singing. Then a spontaneous dance line formed. The room filled with laughter, hands clapped in rhythm, and faces beamed with joy.
Thank you for helping to create these unforgettable moments. Your generous contributions of time and financial support make it possible for us to offer housing, support, and community connections. And the outflow of this is safety, peace, healing, joy, and hope.
In this impact report, you’ll also read the story of David and Julia, who shared their experience of spending their first night in a Journey Home Community transitional home. Julia said, “It was the first night in Canada where we could sleep peacefully and without worry… The next day, the three of us woke up at noon with a big smile!”
Your support makes moments like these possible. As you can see, gratitude is expressed in heartfelt words, in new friendships and a sense of family, in music and dancing that fills a room, and in the smiles on people’s faces. Thank you for journeying with us in sharing love and creating caring community. er being forcibly displaced. Over the years Journey Home Community has welcomed 700 households and more than 1700 individuals, from 72 nations. Wow!
It all started in the fall of 2004 when James Grunau was completing a project for a Global Development course at Regent College. He learned about service gaps in Canada for refugee claimant families. James presented the need to his Willingdon Church small group and the group responded. Together they collected $700 and began learning. Leadership from the group emerged and along with James, the founding group included John, Rebecca, Kim, Tanya, David, Hilda, Marlene and Jerry. It was a small group of friends volunteering to respond to great big need.
Impact Message
From Sleepless Nights to Smiles:
Our Journey
Toward Hope
—David and Julia’s Story
We arrived in Canada carrying only a few belongings—but also the weight of everything we had been through. We fled our country because of violence, armed conflict, and the recruitment of children by local gangs. We were no longer just witnesses to the conflict—one day, it came for us. That moment changed everything. We had no choice but to leave our city, and eventually, our country.
Our first days in Canada were incredibly hard. My husband and I spent those first nights unable to sleep, overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty. We were exhausted—physically, emotionally, mentally. We didn’t know what the future held, and we felt very alone.
Then, through the Settlement Orientation Service, we were connected to Journey Home Community. That was the beginning of something new.
Moving into the Journey Home Community apartment, was a turning point. That night was the first time we slept peacefully in Canada. We rested together with our son, without fear. The next morning, we all woke up at noon—with smiles on our faces. We hadn’t smiled like that in a long time.
Living at Journey Home was an unforgettable experience. There were still hard days, but we also found peace and a sense of family. The support we received from our caseworkers helped us feel seen and cared for. They showed us love, respect, kindness, and compassion. They helped us hold on to hope and faith when it felt like everything was falling apart.
With Journey Home walking alongside us, we began to find community—through the school our son attends, our church, and cultural activities. Canada started to feel like home.
Now, we dream again. We dream of seeing our son go to university here. We dream of practicing our professions and building a future for our family.
Thanks to God, and to Journey Home Community, we are no longer just surviving. We are healing. We are hoping.
Our Impact
January – October 2025
Together, we can create a welcoming community
Please consider making a year-end gift to ensure every family seeking safety can find a place to call home.
Your gift today will help refugee families find the support they need to heal, grow, and dream of a brighter future. Together, we can create a welcoming community where new beginnings flourish, and families feel truly at home.
Thank you for being a vital part of the Journey Home Community.
Thank You & More...
Thank you to our donors, sponsors and volunteers. Your partnership allows us to realize our vision of a society where all refugees experience hope and belonging as they engage in meaningful participation in their community and flourish in all aspects of life.
This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homeless Strategy
Vancouver Rotary Club Foundation
Legacy Gifts
The sad reality is that refugee claimant families will continue to arrive on our shores having fled from danger and persecution. The need to support these vulnerable families is not going away. Journey Home plans to be there for arriving refugees, providing housing, support and community for years to come.
You can create a legacy of hope for arriving refugee claimants with a legacy gift through your will, or through a gift of publicly-traded securities, such as stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Such gifts are also an effective way to give, as they are not subject to costly capital gains taxes, and donors can receive a tax credit for their generous gifts. Contact our office for more information