I am a Hong Kong-Chinese Canadian settler who has been journeying and deepening relationships with women and families in Chinatown, Strathcona, and the DTES communities since 2015. I have especially invested deeply in the shalom of Chinese seniors and many Syrian families who have relocated here. It has been a great joy and blessing to be adopted by Chinese grandmas and welcomed lavishly into the homes, around dinner tables and lives of families who have arrived as refugees!

 

My role as a Community Organizer involves my gifts of listening presence, cultural agility, and creative resourcefulness in partnership with neighbours to bring to life their hopes and ideas for the shalom of their own lives and our community.

 

To meet the need for meaningful, accessible and dignifying work, one main area I organize around is Grassroots Entrepreneurship. I empower neighbours to use their creativity and talents to provide for their families, learn valuable business skills, and bless the community. These initiatives include the Strathcona Artisan Market, a low-barrier opportunity for neighbourhood artists to showcase their talents, and Happy Woman Kitchen, a food-based social enterprise project.

 

I believe that as we respond to the Lord’s call for us to welcome the stranger, we are blessed in return by the same people we welcome and extend hospitality to. Refugees and immigrants play a unique and crucial role in God’s story of shalom and reconciliation in Vancouver, Canada and beyond.

 

Your generous gift will enable us to welcome and empower them to use their gifts and unique stories to create a life of hope, flourishing communities, and tangible blessing here on this land!

If you'd like to learn more, please connect with me at wendy.auyeung@servantpartners.org