THE HOUSE (COMMUNITY SPACE & MAIN OFFICE)
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Jenny Shantz
Executive Director 604.767.1357 | jenny@innerhope.ca Jenny moved to East Vancouver in 1994, the day after writing her last grade 12 exam in order to intern at New Beginnings Baptist Church. During the next 5 years, Jenny developed youth programs at New Beginnings as well as a volunteer team, called Youth Extreme, at Trinity Western University where she earned her B.A. After working as a full-time youth worker, she returned to university to earn her teaching degree. Since 2003 she has developed an afterschool program in the downtown eastside while working at Union Gospel Mission, taught for two years in Driftpile (a Cree community in Northern Alberta) and taught part-time in the Surrey School District from 2006 – 2011. As the Executive Director of Inner Hope, Jenny enjoys the challenge of organizational development as well as spending time mentoring youth. She loves to read, play tennis, visit with family and friends and cheer youth on at their sports games. |
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Diana Squires
Director of Programs 778.558.5385 | diana@innerhope.ca Diana has lived in the same East Van apartment since 2006, and just last year she learned how to use the kitchen – as it turns out, cooking is a useful thing! An alumna of Trinity Western University, she has an impressive track record in fundraising, marketing, and administrative leadership. Her management background spans the not-for-profit, corporate, higher education, and performing arts sectors. A passion for social justice runs deep in Diana’s veins – coming on board with Inner Hope was, in her words, the best decision she made in 2016. When she’s not in the office, you’ll often find her on the stage as a singer, actor, and public speaker (though not usually at the same time). She is also the proud Director of Media Relations for Nettle’s Tale, a Vancouver-based swimwear company that empowers women to love their bodies, support local charities, and celebrate our remarkable Canadian landscape. She loves poetry, prayer, photo-walks through Gastown, any kind of dessert, and she’s more likely to sit through an opera than a sports game. |
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Dara Barbour
Marketing and Human Resource Coordinator dara@innerhope.ca Dara’s heart for Vancouver comes from growing up in an environment where love of others was central and kingdom care was key. She is a Vancouver local with several years of experience working in non-profits around our city in areas of communications’ and administration. Dara has a particular passion for supporting Vancouver’s youth and families. She is thrilled to join the vibrant Inner Hope team. She loves the strong focus on community and is very happy to be part of it. A few of things that Dara enjoys (that are not work-related) are her husband (Ben), her church (First Baptist, Vancouver), all things sweet, coffee, gardening, hiking, camping, and games. |
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Kenneth Kuo
Volunteer Coordinator 778.895.HOPE (4673) | ken@innerhope.ca Born in Taiwan, Ken immigrated to Vancouver in the mid-1970s. Growing up in Burnaby, his formative church years were spent at Vancouver Chinese Alliance Church, later transitioning to University Hill United Church and University Chapel. SInce 2003 Ken and his family has been active members at Tenth Church. Educated in Geology at UBC and later in GIS at BCIT, Ken's professional background includes work in the public, private, and ministry sectors ranging from mapping analytics, transportation planning and project management. When Ken isn’t at Inner Hope, he works as a professional counsellor in the Mt. Pleasant and Fairview neighbourhoods. Ken is an avid car guy, enjoys tennis, photography, cooking, and just spending quality time with family and friends |
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Rosa Saunders
Housekeeper Rosa has been working for Inner Hope as our housekeeper since 2015, but has been a deeply committed member of our community for long before that. Well-loved by all of us who know her, Rosa is upbeat, enthusiastic, and hard-working, with a laugh that lights up our office! She is proud mom and loves to spend time with her family, and Inner Hope is blessed to have her as a part of our team! |
DISCIPLESHIP
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Sarah Hau
Discipleship Case Manager sarah@innerhope.ca Sarah was born in Saskatchewan and spent the first 14 years on the prairies before her family moved to the big city of Dallas when she was in high school. A long and winding road took her back to Alberta where she met and married her husband, John, in 2006. The next year they moved to the Vancouver area to work with Power to Change on the UBC campus. With the addition of their twins in 2010 and another little one in 2012, Sarah stepped back from her roles outside the home to focus on raising their kids. John and Sarah have a heart for the city and a love of the urban life so they moved their family to Gastown in the heart of Vancouver in 2011. Through her involvement at Reality Church, Sarah learned about Inner Hope and began building relationships with the staff, volunteers, youth and participant families. She joined staff overseeing the Sunday Program and transitioned into a discipleship and case management role in 2018. |
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Amanda Seymour
Discipleship Coordinator amanda@innerhope.ca Amanda was born in Ottawa, Ontario and grew up adjacent to her reserve Akwesasne along the St. Lawrence River. In 2008 her family moved to Coquitlam, British Columbia where completed her high school and then continued her studies at Trinity Western University. Her involvement with Inner Hope first started the summer of 2015 as the summer student internship, since then she has been committed to volunteering regularly with Youth Extreme held at New Beginnings. She would occasionally come to Reality to visit the kids and youth she had built relationships with as much as she could. Within the last year Amanda has completed a travel studies in Ottawa with Parliament Hill, taken a mentor ship role with the boundless program, and got baptized this past Easter, April 1st, 2018! Her desire for the role as discipleship coordinator is to hopefully bridge the gap between culture and Christianity. |
LIFE SKILLS
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Mark Ang
Boundless Coordinator 778.882.LIFE (5433) | mark@innerhope.ca Born and raised in Vancouver, Mark has been involved in the Inner Hope community before it was even established. He first met Carla and Jenny in 2001 and started attending New Beginnings, becoming a part of that community. Since then, Inner Hope has been a home base for him, and he's lived in The Home, volunteered and interned with Inner Hope, and worked as House Respite as well. He has seen firsthand how relationships through Inner Hope can impact and transform lives. Mark earned his B.A. at Trinity Western University, and, after getting married, moved up to Redstone Reserve to join his wife, where he taught P.E.. He has since made a home in Vancouver with his wife and two children, and has been an invested community member with Reality Church. Mark is thrilled to be returning to Inner Hope in a leadership capacity, and is looking forward to building rapport and community with those involved both past and present. When he's not at Inner Hope, Mark enjoys playing softball and spending time with his family, including family trips to Science World and Costco (for hot dogs). |
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Samantha Gardham-Hers
Post-Secondary Coordinator 778.680.POST (7678) | samantha@innerhope.ca Sam comes to us with a degree in Church Ministries, majoring in Intercultural Studies, and many years of experience serving youth and young adults in camp, church and inner-city community settings. She also brings a wealth of experience in event hosting (a huge part of our world here!) and volunteer coordination. |
HOUSING (THE HOME)
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Nate and Irene McCready
House Parents 778.798.HOME (4663) | nate@innerhope.ca | irene@innerhope.ca Irene completed her undergraduate training in Social Work from Ryerson University and her Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto. After 30 years of snow and sub-zero temperatures, she moved from Toronto to Vancouver in 2006. Irene has worked in a variety of community and hospital settings with adults and youth experiencing mental illness, addiction and homelessness. Originally from Red Deer Alberta, Nate grew up across Western Canada. With a diploma in Addictions Counseling, Nate has experience working with street-entrenched youth and was instrumental in helping many youth find restoration from addiction, violence and homelessness. He is a regular speaker on addiction with Youth for Christ’s Life Teams program. Nate and Irene met over 10 years ago when they both worked in Youth Addictions at Vancouver Coastal Health, but it wasn’t until 2012 that they became close friends. One snowy winter evening in 2013 they admitted they were actually in love, and they got married the following summer (with many friends wondering why it took so darn long). Nate and Irene have long been committed to serving others, and hold Christ at the centre of all they do, both professionally and personally. They both feel incredibly privileged to be part of Inner Hope |
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Nicole Brindle
Respite Support Worker nicole@innerhope.ca Nicole was one of Inner Hope's first Boundless Youth Mentors in 2010 and nearly a decade later finds herself back with the organization in the role of Respite Support Worker for The Home. She is a quality youth worker with incredible experience working with young people and their families all over East Vancouver. She is currently completing her Bachelor's Degree in Child and Youth Counselling and hopes to pursue a career in education and teaching. Nicole lives with eleven other people, six of whom are children, and none of whom share her DNA. She is an annoyingly proud godmother who will show off pictures of her godson any chance she can get. She enjoys escape rooms, tea out of ceramic mugs, and as a child she asked Santa for snow every Christmas. People have described Nicole as someone who would make a "brilliant lawyer but a terrible judge". Nicole is sweet, kind, and gentle but don't let that fool you, she is tough and resilient too and once walked on a broken foot for a week before getting it checked out. At the end of the day Nicole is the real deal and considers it pure joy to be a part of the Inner Hope community. |