Flagship clean-up returns to New West

It’s an opportunity to give back and do good, all while enjoying food, music, and festivities.

On Saturday, June 3, Westminster House will be hosting its annual Clean-Up New West event, from 9am to 1pm.

For the uninitiated, Westminster House is a not-for-profit that allows women to focus on their addiction recovery. The organization was initially founded in 1981 as the Julien House Society, named after BC dentist Dr. Walter Julien, who was also a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. With time, the community realized there was a need for a safe space where women could recover from alcoholism, with a temporary home being leased in 1985.

“We just want to give back to our community, and also to our neighbours, too,” says Brooklyn Lacey, who is the development assistant at Westminster House. Lacey elaborates that any funds raised from the event will go towards its continued care program.

“[The continued care program] is like transitional living, secondary stage housing. If the alumni want to come down and have a meal, they can. We have our ‘Chosen Family Fridays,’ which is when the alumni can come down [and have a mean], meet the new clients, things like that.”

These opportunities can springboard into long-term mentorship opportunities for those with ties to Westminster House.

“The alumni can take on a mentorship role but with them it's called sponsorship…We also do have relapse prevention when people leave [Westminster House] so they can come [to] group education [sessions] every week.”

Last year’s clean-up resulted in about 1700 lbs. of garbage being picked up, though Lacey notes they did find some large-scale items, giving the example of a bathtub.

“[This year if] they find a large item, [they’ll] take a photo of it, take note of where it is and then we'll let the city know and they can pick it up. Electronics and stuff will be recycled, so we’ll be disposing of items in an eco-friendly way.”

Sign-up to participate is required. To learn more about the event, visit this webpage.