The Elizabeth Fry Society is a not-for-profit organization. Our programs and facilities help women and youth at risk. We try to make a difference in people's lives. We work to reduce the number of women and youth in the Criminal Justice System.
Connie - Columbia Place resident
"I came from a very bad background. Got sentenced to five years for robbing eight banks. I've been very institutionalized. The Elizabeth Fry Society has an office in the jail - Burnaby Correctional Center for Women - the door was open and I went to them and got interviewed.
The Elizabeth Fry Society has helped me to learn how to cook, learn how to … just normal living. I'm used to my clothes being washed for me, I'm used to my food being cooked for me - and here at Columbia Place, I have to do cooking, I have to do my laundry, I have to do my chores, I have to keep my room clean. I have to get up at a certain time, I have to go to my programs. It's taught me how to be responsible."
Chris
"I felt victimized by her, and then further by the courts - people wouldn't even talk to me. I didn't know I needed a lawyer, and I didn't know what - how anything worked. I didn't know anything. And I'm just really lucky, that this woman somehow saw me: I'm very much out of my element, looking stunned, and I was scared to death. This woman though really looked after me. And she was from the Elizabeth Fry Society, she was the first person who'd treated me with any respect or dignity.
I didn't want to be treated like a victim, which I felt I was. Just somebody to talk to - it was really great. And then suddenly here was someone who was treating me like I was their son - or with the warmth or the compassion or the interest of a person - just because I was alive and standing there. That's all that was required."
Jennifer
"How I came to be involved with Elizabeth Fry is through the Shoplifters Counselling program. I had been involved in shoplifting for about twenty years, and had an incident where I knew that it was time.
Without the Society I don't think that I'd be where I am today. The program provided me with a lot of tools on how to cope with day-to-day things, how to take care of yourself basically, and in turn, if you do that, all these other behaviours seemed to decrease.
All I can say is, without the Society my life would be completely different. And I would not have and felt the way I feel now, and experience life the way I do now. I tell people that the clarity in my life, through what I've learned from the Society, has amazed me, and still continues to do so on a daily basis. Everybody here has been fantastic - very supportive, and non-judgmental, which has changed my life completely."
Kerrie-Marie
"About two and a half years ago, I got into a fight with my husband, and he beat me up. So I left with my daughter, and I went to Sheena's Place, to the shelter. I assumed it was for battered women, but I was kind of shocked when they said it was for homeless people.
And I went back there again, last year. And in the last two years, I kept in touch with them. I could phone them, crying, talking about my chaos, and how awful things were for me. And they were always really good, they talked to my children really well. And it was neat to see all the women that they do help, and all the families that do go back and keep in touch with them, with Sheena's Place."
Anonymous
"Just to know that I could phone them and they would still be there for me. They don't look down on anyone, they're just there to be your friend."
Anonymous
"To me, they've saved my life."
