Inner Hope

A great resource for mentors looking for things to do to connect with their youth!

Purple Thistle is a youth arts centre. They have drop-in time most evenings, and also offer classes on various things, like screen printing, or photography. All the resources are free and youth can just come in during the drop-in times and make art, or hang out. It is located in East Van near Clark Dr. and Venables.

Café du Solis on Commercial Dr. is a café-type place which hold a lot of different events throughout the week, including poetry and story slams, open mics and improv comedy evenings. Entrance usually only costs about $5 and it is for all ages. It’s a fun atmosphere to hang out in.

The Sikh Temple out near Boundary Road and East Broadway offers free Indian dinner Mon-Thurs at 7pm sharp. It’s free and just meant to bless the community, and is so delicious. And great when you’re on a budget. It’s quite an experience.

And also, keep your eyes open for various events around the city, like the Vancouver International Film Fest, different street parades or festivals, like Car Free Sunday, or Greek days. That kind of stuff is usually only in the summer, naturally, but there is the occasional winter events as well. There are also a lot of free concerts which go on in Vancouver.