Chuck has a wide range of experience when it comes to drop-in and street ministry. He is one of the founding members of the Mustard Seed Street Ministry in Calgary. Chuck is the founder of Cornerstone Youth Drop-in Ministry in Calgary. He served with Youth For Christ for in both Calgary, AB and Portage la Prairie, MB. Chuck also served on Youth for Christ/Canada’s task force studying Homelessness and poverty among youth. He is also involved in a National Organization dealing with Homelessness and Poverty called Street Level.

Chuck’s early years were filled with travel as the son of a soldier. During his childhood, he suffered all kinds of abuse and as a teen rebelled against his now single mom, who was raising three children alone. Chuck rebelled a gainst God and turned away from Christianity. The abused became the abuser. This continued until he found himself unwelcome at home and left with broken relationships with both his family and friends. He lost the relationship with his children and at the age of 22 during a drinking binge he turned his life over to Christ. Chuck’s first act as a Christian was to become involved at the Burning Bush coffeehouse in the basement of First Baptist Church Calgary. He became a volunteer and continued his involvement through the change into the Mustard Seed, until he started working at Youth For Christ.

Chuck’s favourite passage is Matt 25: 34-46 The parable of the sheep and the goats, “For I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick or in prison and you visited me”. I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.”

By the grace of God, through Christians who reached out beyond their comfort zone and a faithful praying mother. Chuck has been faithfully serving the Lord for many years. He is very happy to be serving the Lord helping others to know the message of hope and healing, found in the Lord.

Chuck is married to Cindy. They have been married for 29 years. They have three grown children. Lisa (married to Mike), Wes and Shawn. Aside from his relationship with the Lord, Chuck’s wife and children are his most important relationships. Chuck says he is a very blest man.

I feel like I’ve been given a gift. …….a gift that has come with some big changes and sacrifices. As a family, my husband Randy and our four children have made the decision to relocate to beautiful Vernon BC, from Manitoba. We leave behind friends, family, and many years of ministry experience. But I am at peace knowing that when God leads He provides. He uses the many lessons we have learned along the way for the next season of life’s journey.

For the past 5 ½ years I was employed by Youth for Christ, in Morris Manitoba as the Executive Director of the Youth Center. With that ministry opportunity I learned to rely on God for strength and wisdom for the areas I was weak or unsure of. Learning that God is always faithful, and when He leads to an area of responsibility, he always equips.

Previous to Youth for Christ, I have been involved with our home church, part of the worship team, teaching Sunday school, and my husband and I were one of the leadership couples. We also had the privilege of working alongside others leading a weekly Bible study and children’s program on a First Nations Reserve, south of Winnipeg. In the inner city of Winnipeg is a mission church called Bethlehem Aboriginal fellowship, where we served beside the ministry staff wherever there was a need. (Leading worship, clothing bank, food bank, alpha program, meals, children’s ministry, prayer ministry).

Missions are also close to my heart, and we had the honor of participating in a 10 missions trip to Ecuador w/ Campus Crusade (Power to Change). During my time at YFC we were able to provide smaller opportunities for the youth to experience Missions close to home. During the summer months we brought a group of youth to Winnipeg for a week, and served at The Union Gospel Mission, a ministry to homeless and poor in Winnipeg.

No matter where I’ve served, my heart’s cry was that they know they have value. First that they are valued by me, and ultimately that God planned for them, and has a purpose for their lives. He is bigger than any decisions we have made and there is always hope when God is invited in. I am excited to know and be a part of all God has planned for The Upper Room Mission.

– I was baptized in Christ in 2001 and He has been leading me on an exciting path ever since. I believe that I was being led into this position at the Upper Room Mission in baby steps. My first undertaking was @ the Alliance Church with “Common Threads” - sorting donated clothes, arranging and labeling them to give out to people in our community. I love the interaction with the people and also arranging it like a store so it felt like shopping for them. I love the excitement on the parents faces as they are able to bring good used clothing home for their children and also enjoy some extra things for themselves. I never dreamed that God would open the door so wide that I would be managing a “Boutique Shoppe.” I do admit I am loving “almost” every minute of it. There is still the wonderful enjoyment of seeing people shop and exclaim over the wonderful clothing they are able to buy at such reasonable prices and knowing that all the proceeds go towards maintaining our building along with provisions needed for our guests. I am still able to find clothing that is suitable for our guests and that is given to them to fill their needs. God has truly blessed me with the gifts the volunteers say I have and I am truly blessed with the volunteers that keep everything running so smoothly in the store. “Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted that request. 1 Chronicles 4:21

Born in Kamloops, raised in Salmon Arm. Moved to Vernon in 1997 after an injury at work. While doing rehab and retraining, I feel very blessed to be a part of the staff (here at the Mission). After getting hurt, I realized we all maybe a just a step from needing the love and help people find here. We are family here, doing a hard job. I now have a better understanding of God's Grace and Love. This place has enriched my life like no other.

Klaas and I moved to Vernon in 1992. I started volunteering here in 93, because of the influence of a friend who was a supported of the Mission. In 96’ I was asked to come on staff and have been here ever since! I believe in the work of the Mission and enjoy working with our wonderful volunteers and staff!

While sharing the history and vision of the beginnings of the Upper Room Mission (25 years ago) with Board Members I felt a great tug in my heart towards being a part of this ministry once again. I love working and sharing God’s love with people of all ages and seeing lives changed and touched by God’s power and mercy.

I am happy to be a new member of the Upper Room Mission! I have recently graduated with my degree in Social Work and am excited to be entering into the community.

I was fortunate to complete my 4th year practicum work experience for the program in Ghana, West Africa. As one aspect of my experience, I worked with a Food Program for people with mental health issues. The Ghanaian women, international volunteers and I made local food in an outdoor kitchen over a smouldering fire. We packaged the food into individual portions and delivered it to people in the community from the back of a truck. In Ghana, for numerous reasons, mental health issues are largely misunderstood and those people with mental health issues suffer the most. In part many people who cannot contribute to their family situations are left homeless and starving. We brought one meal a day and water to each needy individual. It was a very rewarding experience to help people receive the basic necessities of life when there were no other resources available. The work in Africa really changed my perspective of life as I knew it in Canada and solidified for me the importance of a strong sense of community, community participation and government social support. The Mission is my bridge to become connected to my community again.

I have always had an interest in wanting to work with the less fortunate, but did not really have a great understanding of how to go about it till I met this wonderful lady, Bev Henke. She was teaching an Overcomers meeting at the church that I attend, Vernon Family Church. Bev is an outreach worker for the Mission, I asked her how I go about volunteering at the Mission, she said “come on down and fill out a volunteer application”. Needless to say I was down there the next day and the day after that I had my first experience in the kitchen doing what I have wanted to do for so many years. As it turned out, one of the cooks had gotten hurt in a car accident and a cook’s position became available. After much prayer and worry because I had volunteered in the kitchen only a handful of times, I asked Andrew, the Manager, if the position was still available and that I would be interested in filling in as cook. So here I am almost a year later and still enjoying what I love to do, COOK!

I find it a privilege to be able to work in the Upper Room Mission environment. Before I started working here I was at a crossroads in my life, not knowing what my purpose in this life was. I know first hand what a lot of the people here are going through with addictions because I also have been there, so it is easy to relate and understand the frustrations that they have in coming clean. I have prayed so often to be brought around wonderful Christian people and God has answered my prayers by sending me to the Upper Room Mission. Sometimes there can be frustrations being here, but when you hear just one success story it makes it all worth while. There is a passage in scripture, Mathew 9:37 which says; “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.” In saying that, I mean that there are so many wonderful people that donate to the Mission, but sometimes we have a shortage of volunteers and every little extra help makes the world of difference. God Bless!

Actively participating in a worthy cause - making a difference to someone's day! Just being happy and working alongside positive, inspiring people; that is what working at the Upper Room Mission is all about for me.

After being retired for 3 years, I felt it was time to look for an activity to help the community. What better place to give my time and energy than the Mission? Working at the Mission gave me a new sense of life. I realized that the more you give, the more you receive. A smile, a hug, a good word, so easy to do and can be so important for someone.

My job at the Misssion is to prepare the meals. It's important for me to make sure that the food is good, just like I would for my own family. Every time a guest tells me the food was great and gives thanks, I know why I love this job.

Hello everyone! I am Dan Lee, the newest member of the Upper Room Mission outreach staff.

I was born on a military hospital at Royal Canadian Air Force Base in Chatham, New Brunswick. At two yrs of age, we moved to Rivers, Manitoba where we played in the flatlands up to the age of 10. We returned to New Brunswick, the northwest county of Madawaska. St. Francois only had French schools, forcing us to become fluent in French a true blessing in disguise. As a young man in school, I worked my summers on farms and various construction sites as a helper. After school, I followed in our family tradition and joined the military, serving as Military Police, Combat engineer and Artillery. I am married with two grown boys. The oldest, Damien, is a chef residing in the Okanagan Valley, B.C. Jason is a nuclear scientist residing in New Brunswick. I have recently become a grandfather to a beautiful baby girl.

My sports and leisure’s and cooking, camping, gardening, fly fishing and fly tying, hunting and scuba diving. I am also a certified commercial driver and have served as fleet skipper on the West Coast of B.C.

I trained as a marine mechanic at CCNB, St Andrews where I received the Lady Dunn award for Excellence, having obtained the highest academic achievement ever given in 20 plus years of that courses history.

We spent many years homesteading on our 20 acres of waterfront in New Brunswick where we had 3 acres of organic commercial gardens.

I always had an artistic side that led me to explore tattooing and operate a tattoo studio. I used the shop environment to help kids get off the street and get them into a viable trade. I have now closed my shop so that I can put all of my time into ministry and outreach work.

I was raised in a prayer filled Christian home and am presently working on a degree by correspondence at Celebration Bible Collage with hope of going into the mission field.

We currently reside in Vernon, with an old blue healer and a stray cat which moved into our house the same day we did, claiming it for her own despite the dog.