Photo © Wendy D Photography
Have you ever been faced with an impossible choice?
Everyone deserves the opportunity to make free, healthy, and positive choices—but the people WISH Drop-In Centre Society exists to serve are often denied that fundamental right.
Based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, WISH provides a safe haven for women and gender diverse street-based sex workers.
With your help, WISH can continue to provide this essential support.
Trust, Care and Respect
Many WISH participants have experienced targeted, gender-based, and sexualized violence. They face discrimination caused by systemic inequities and are often dehumanized because of the work they do.
WISH is a non-judgmental place of compassion and trust where all participants are valued. This trust, care, and respect is the foundation needed to build relationships with staff and peers that increase connections to the community.
"Thank you for caring about me when I couldn’t do it for myself. Amazing people." —WISH participant
Each day and night, hundreds of women and gender diverse people depend on WISH to meet their most essential needs. Immediate access to a warm meal, harm reduction supplies, or a hot shower is available through WISH’s nightly drop-in, first-of-its-kind emergency shelter, and mobile access van.
Through their connection with WISH, participants can begin to access wrap-around supports that help create lasting change, including WISH’s Indigenous Health & Safety Program, Supportive Employment, Learning Centre, Music Therapy, and one-to-one support with WISH InReach workers.
It’s About Choice
Providing personalized support is an effective way to help navigate health, justice, and financial systems that stigmatize those with lived experience as sex workers. In many cases, WISH Staff are the primary resource for participants working through increasingly complicated matters.
“We just want to live our lives. We just want to raise our children, we just want to be happy, healthy, productive people.” —WISH participant
Human rights groups continue to call for the decriminalization of consensual adult sex work. Until all sex workers have access to the rights they deserve, WISH will be there, pushing back against the forces of sexism, racism, sex work stigma, and the impacts of colonization.
Your Help is Urgently Needed
As pressures increase, the most vulnerable community members are the most impacted, which is why your support is needed now more than ever.
The costs of running WISH programs are exceeding available funding, and donations are needed to sustain programming. WISH is facing an immense demand for services as conditions continue to worsen.
Will you help keep their doors open?
When you give to WISH you are standing in solidarity. You know that sex worker rights are human rights, and you work to uphold rights over rescue. With your help, WISH can provide critical support for as long as it is needed.
Right now, thanks to an anonymous donor, all gifts will be matched, doubling the impact of your donation! Please, give generously today to support this important work.
Learn more at wish-vancouver.net
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Our mission is to improve the health, safety and well-being of women who are involved in Vancouver’s street-based sex trade. Our vision is for every woman to have access to opportunities to make free, healthy and positive choices.