Working with our partners in the Capital Region, we offer life-changing services to adults who are impacted by poverty, colonization, stigma and homelessness. These services include permanent housing, emergency shelter, health and dental care, employment assistance, and social and recreational opportunities.
Cool Aid's vision is a simple one...
"Working for Cool Aid was pretty much the best job I’ve ever had, in terms of salary, co-workers and management. I kind of wish I could bring you guys to Toronto with me."
Front-Line Worker, Former Employee
In 1968, the Cool Aid hotline was started and the hostel opened its doors. Our mission was to provide short-term, emergency shelter to transient youth travelling the country. Quickly realizing the increasing local need for further shelter and holistic services, we established the “Cool Aid Free Medical Clinic” in 1970. In 1972, we launched our first Dental Clinic. By 1976, we united our efforts and the Victoria Cool Aid Society was incorporated. Read Cool Aid’s complete history.
There was a time when people in Victoria who were homeless, poor and ill returned again and again to emergency shelters – they had nowhere else to go. In the 1980s, affordable housing was drying up and large mental institutions were shutting down, leaving people with little support for getting off the street. Cool Aid’s shelter workers were frustrated to see the cycles of homelessness unbroken, so we opened up the Province’s first supportive housing apartments at Swift House in 1991. Read Cool Aid’s complete history.
By now, Cool Aid had developed a successful reputation by creating accessible, affordable and alternative housing programs and holistic health and wellness services for people who need it the most. Today, over 300 employees work in Victoria, Saanich and Langford providing homes, shelter, health care and other services to Victoria’s most vulnerable. Projects completed during this period included the new Access Health Centre, five seniors buildings, new shelters and affordable housing. Read Cool Aid’s complete history.
