There is a real sense of community at Union Gospel Mission's affordable housing complex, The Orchard, in Guildford. 

The 75-unit complex has become more than just a place for families to find a safe home — it's become a place where they know their neighbours and look out for one another, thanks to a partnership between UGM and Whole Way House.

Whole Way House is a Vancouver non-profit started by siblings Jenny and Josh Conkin in 2013 while they were managing their grandparents' single-room occupancy (SRO) building in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

They saw that many of their tenants struggled to meet their basic needs. So, they decided to start Whole Way House to address what they thought were their greatest needs: food, clothing and employment. 

"What we saw was that our tenants were really struggling with isolation and loneliness, and that was often actually what was preventing them from accessing the resources that were available to them," Conkin said. 

"We also really saw that people just were so disconnected and so we wanted to create a feeling of family and community that was a really healthy and safe place for them." 

The non-profit partnered with Quest Food Exchange to host a family dinner for all 85 residents. 

"At first nobody was coming, and I was like, what is going on?" Conkin said. "I'm gonna go yell in the hallways and get them to come down for dinner and they had actually started lining up with, like, their own plates, like it was a soup kitchen."

"I was like, oh. I was like, 'no, you guys, we're gonna sit down and we're gonna eat together,' and that's when I really had that realization that they were so isolated. They weren't used to being in those kind of community environments anymore." 

"It took a little while to build, but from there, we started a games program, we had a morning coffee program, and then they really started to engage and I saw how the atmosphere in our building changed." 

The programs are about "connecting people into healthy community," Conkin said. 

What started as a family dinner for tenants in their SRO has grown into so much more. 

Today, Whole Way House partners with seven non-profit housing societies in 11 locations in Vancouver, Burnaby, Victoria, and Surrey. The programs currently support 1,100 low-income seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, families and people in transition with onsite community building programs and tenant support services to build healthy communities in housing, notes .

A crucial part of the non-profit is partnering with other non-profits so they are not replicating services. One of these non-profits is the Union Gospel Mission (UGM), where Whole Way House operates programs at three of its locations.

Over three years ago staff at the Union Gospel Missions (UGM) approached Whole Way House and asked them if the organization could run programs at The Orchard.

At the Orchard, they started an after-school program for kids living in the complex.  Conkin said at the time, staff noticed many of the teenagers in the complex would look on at the programs but would not join themselves, saying they it was for kids and not teenagers. 

"So what we did was we started asking the teens if they would want to volunteer, and then that gave them an excuse to come, and so now the teens volunteer," Conkin said. 

These programs also help keep the teens out of trouble. "We really want to create a space where they have a cool place to hang out, where they where they don't have to get kind of pulled out into maybe different friend groups or different areas where they might be getting into trouble," Conkin said. 

The after-school program is divided into two sections: homework help and focused fun time. 

Lauren Brown, the site manager, said that many parents' first language was not English. "So they didn't have someone at home that could help them explain their homework and just go through with them or check it," Brown said. 

"We found that a lot of the teens were bringing their homework and just asking a lot of questions," Brown said —asking for help for things like how to solve a math problem. 

"Then that also kind of became a little more cool for the younger kids like to bring their books that they had to read." 

Brown said that after the homework helps, it is time for fun. This time often includes lots of games, crafts, and activities. 

"We definitely see that, like, there's just more of a bond amongst the kids," Brown said. "Now they're getting to know each other better. The kids of all ages are playing together. They're looking out for one another. We're not seeing as much conflict or isolation." 

The Whole Way House programs are based on its three pillars: reconnect, rebuild and recentre.

Reconnecting people to build meaningful relationships, rebuilding "a sense of belonging and purpose through opportunities to contribute, education and training," and re-centring through one-on-one tenant support services and connecting people to community resources. 

During their recent summer barbecue, one of the Orchard tenants approached Jenny Conkin and told her how grateful he was for Whole Way House.

As he told her: "Since Whole Way House has been here, we've actually become a community."