Category: Community Stories

Thanks to a generous donation from Darick Construction, Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) was able to support 16 people through the Medical Assistance Fund earlier this year. 

Announced in March 2025, the fund was established to provide financial support to individuals facing financial hardship in the neighbourhood. Funds were meant to cover medical treatments, medications, tests, scans and other necessary services.  

“Darick Construction made a donation to CNH and specifically asked that a portion be directed to community members with medical needs,” explained Amir Sabbaghan, Annex and Recreation Manager at CNH. “This aligns with their company mission of building better lives through practical support. Based on that gift, we set up the Medical Assistance Fund to issue small, rapid grants to residents facing urgent health-related costs.” 

As a result, he noticed many of the applicants for the fund were underinsured or between coverage. This included newcomers, students and those waiting for MSP reactivation. Several of them, he said, were on waitlists for surgery and/or specialist appointments, and needed stopgap supports to manage in the meantime. 

For Melissa, one of the fund recipients, accessing the Medical Assistance Fund was a relief as someone who faces multiple barriers to accessing healthcare. 

“[G]overnment disability benefits are incredibly low given the cost of living in BC,” they said. “Paying for medical expenses has been a massive burden financially, and has led to a lot of stress and having to make hard decisions like choosing between paying for food or paying for medical expenses.” 

A regular participant of CNH’s free food program, Melissa said it has been difficult to find healthcare practitioners with affordable services in the neighbourhood. In addition to having difficulty travelling to appointments far from home, Melissa said they are unable to work due to their medical conditions and are reliant on government disability benefits.  

“The medical assistance fund led to massive relief that a significant chunk of my yearly medical expenses was covered by this fund,” said Melissa. “I’m incredibly grateful to be a recipient.” 

Amir said that the gratitude from community members like Melissa has been overwhelming with people sharing how a relatively small grant relieved a major burden. 

“This initiative has made a meaningful difference in the lives of many, and we are incredibly grateful for the community partnerships that allows us to carry out this kind of work,” he said. “We believe this fund has had a real impact.” 

Thank you to Darick Construction for making this fund possible. To make your own impact on the CNH community, visit cnh.bc.ca/donate. 

The mention of the word “hula” may call into mind grass skirts, ukuleles, and leis, but according to Poh Tan and Rani Wangsawidjaya, who teach hula at Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH), this Indigenous Hawaiʻian dance is not just that, it’s a way to communicate history, stories and a way to connect with each other to the earth.

“Hula is basically the embodied way of communicating aloha and connection to the land. There’s a really, really deep meaning about what aloha means. It’s not just about love and hello and goodbye, but it is a sense of being in place and a sense of understanding our relationship with our family, our hula sisters, and earth, all combined with dance,” said Poh. 

In addition to learning about the past and connecting it with the present, hula also gives us guidance for the future, Rani said.

“We are not just there to learn about dance movements or learn how to dance together as a group or, you know, learn how to express things, but it’s also learning about ourselves, learning about the environment and how we can embody or maybe personify the environment because they really are living beings just like us. And hula is one way that we can communicate that to our group,” she said.

Poh and Rani’s hula journeys can be traced back to one person: Josie DeBaat, who started the Wahine South Sea Dancers in the basement of her home in 1971, and taught Polynesian dance for decades until her death in 2022.  

Meanwhile, Josie had also been Hula Along instructor Ingrid Guo’s introduction to hula. She was encouraged by her late husband to take Josie’s class after they watched her seniors’ class perform at Renfrew Community Centre.

“I learned not only dance but also her positive way towards life. She experienced a lot of tough events during her life… but she always kept a big smile in the class. She taught us to dance from our hearts,” Ingrid said.

Although Poh and her co-instructor Rani had been dancing with their kumu (teacher) for two and three decades respectively, Josie’s passing became the cusp of them connecting with each other and working to keep the community together. What started out as Zoom gatherings eventually led to a pilot project with Emily Rees, former director of community development at CNH.

“When she passed, there was a sense of not just a significant loss, like the lei broke,” Poh said.

“I always thought that mine and Poh’s thing is just this little seed, this new thing that we’re doing, which is branching off a little bit… but now I really see it as like we have reconnected our lei. With our genealogy, with our lei that Josie braided for us, we’re continuing the same braid. It’s not a new braid. It’s new for us, but it’s the same all these other generations,” added Rani.

Grief was also something that pushed Ingrid to teach hula. After her husband’s passing in 2023, she kept herself busy with teaching and other volunteer work. Through this, she was able to find and foster community within her classes.

“People in the class are very nice and close… by the end of the last class in the season, people will exchange gifts, flowers from their garden, [and more],” she said.

Through their hula classes, not only have Rani and Poh been able to keep their hula community together, they have also been able to deepen their connections through other performance-related activities such as making their own skirts.  

“That community feel from wearing something that you made in a dance you just learned just adds to the feels that this is not just another dance class,” Poh said.

Teaching hula at CNH has given all three instructors a sense of belonging, especially for Rani, who also works at the RISE Community Health Centre as a dietitian.

“It’s the way my life has become one where my hula was separate from my career before coming to CNH… and now, people really know who I am fully because they know I’m there on Thursday nights, and they know I’m also at the clinic… you know me because you know the other side of me too,” Rani said.

Additionally, Ingrid feels a lot of fulfillment as a volunteer instructor.

“I am not sure how many [more] years I am able to teach. But every morning when I wake up, I know my life is meaningful; I am helping others and receive joy from others. I am happier now,” she said.

To learn more about hula with Rani and Poh, visit hulahalau.ca. For information on upcoming hula programs at CNH, call 604-435-0323.

Born in Nigeria and having lived around the world, including Singapore and South Africa, Kemm Angulu has made the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood of East Vancouver her home since 2000. She is the owner of Dumonde Beauty on Kingsway, which was established in 2006 and has a mission to make beauty accessible to all and be a force for good.  

Kemm’s daughters went to school at Carleton Elementary, where Kemm participated in activities, volunteered, and rallied with other parents and community members to keep the school open when it was at risk of closure. She has also been a familiar face at the annual Collingwood Days festival, where she’s enjoyed the opportunity to showcase her beauty products and connect with the community over the years. 

In response to Black History Month, which is recognized each February, Kemm shares with Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) about what it means to her and how we can go beyond celebrating the Black community once a year. 

Reflecting on a past legacy

Like Kemm, Viola Desmond, a Canadian civil rights pioneer, was also a successful Black businesswoman. Viola, who fought against anti-Black racism and segregation in 1946, paved the way for many Black women, Kemm explained, who noted that she first learned of Viola when she came to Canada. 

“Dumonde started from just creating skin care products to help my own acne and discolouration,” said Kemm.” I couldn’t find products that worked for me so making my own ended up being the solution.”  

“I didn’t think this hobby would grow into a thriving business that is well known in the community.” 

In 2018, Desmond became the first Canadian woman to be featured on the Canadian $10 bill.  

Kemm is inspired by Viola’s legacy and said, “I’m on this land, too. I can lay an example down for people coming after me. You know, my kids, my great-grandchildren.” Kemm wants future generations to know that “those are the people that fought for us to stand on this land” and their positive impact.  

“I personally want to do something that the future coming after me, they would say, oh, you know, ‘Kemm Angulu wants to do this [for] the community,’ added Kemm, who encourages every Black person to do that as well. 

Appreciating what she has

Kemm encourages people to learn about her culture, where discipline and respect for elders are fundamental principles. She said that in Africa, the responsibility of raising children is shared by the wider community and family is very important. “I’m the firstborn. When you’re a firstborn, you have to do a lot of things. You have to work hard. You have to help your family, you know, it’s a culture thing. It’s a culture thing and I embrace that culture, I love that culture. Because you know what, family is very important.” 

Kemm said, “I tell my kids: make sure that you stay together. We build together. You come together as a family. So the culture aspect is totally something that keep us going in life, something that makes us appreciate what we have.” She added, “I still always tell them you are African. Where you’re from matters. I use what is good in my country and what is good here to raise my kids. To be good leaders and good people in the community.” 

 “And Canada said, come with your culture. Absolutely, I’m in this land with my culture.” 

Sharing knowledge, showcasing culture

Kemm works with youth in the Black community so that they don’t forget where they or their ancestors came from. “Sometimes when we don’t do this often, our kids forget,” she said. “We’re too busy to show them how things are done. They will forget. And that’s how history dies if you don’t pass it on to the new generation.” 

One of the ways that Kemm shares her knowledge and showcases Black culture is by providing braiding workshops, including at Douglas College this past February, where participants learned different braiding techniques like cornrow. Kemm has also shared her love of dance with her daughters, Marie and Khalimat. Marie now leads the Roots Crew, which performs hip hop dance and Afrobeats around the city. Kemm said, “I keep telling her, you have to find something to show people how the culture is and how things are done. You know, I love to dance. So I teach her a little bit and she take over and she do it.”  

Kemm said that she believes it’s important for everyone to celebrate and reflect on Black History Month. She wishes that it was done not only in February. She said, “I would love if they don’t just make it a once in a year thing” and hopes the community could do more to showcase Black culture, including Afrobeats or something African every month.  

“Black people – we are here, and we are here to make the place better,” she said. 

Ultimately, Kemm would like to see something in Vancouver to bring people together. She suggested throwing a fun thing for Black people and, “the more people see something, the more they get familiar with it.” She is willing to do more and wish it would be happening. 

This story was originally written to celebrate Black voices in Renfrew-Collingwood. We encourage everyone to learn more about Black Canadian communities throughout the year and how they continue to help shape our communities, and to celebrate together. Learn more about Dumonde Beauty at dumondebeauty.com.