A few weeks ago the folks at Ford of Canada approached us about doing a clothing drive for Covenant House Vancouver.   As you know, if you’re a regular reader of the blog, Covenant House provides shelter and support for at-risk youth with programs designed to get them off the street and pointed in the right direction.  The first step is providing the basics – food, clothing, and a place to stay.   

Winter is coming (as they say in Westeros) and CHV is always looking for good, warm clothing to get our youth through the season.   So we’re teaming up with Ford to make donations really easy.  I’ll come to your house and pick it up!

On Saturday, October 22nd Jacek and I, along with a few friends from Ford of Canada, will hit the road in a mini convoy of Ford Explorers through the Lower Mainland.   And we need your to help draw up the route.  

Coordinate with your friends and family to pool together items from the list below. Get together and make it an afternoon – all the better to make it a mini gossip session AND a donation location. As we’ll only be able to cover so much ground, the more we can pick up in on your stop, the more we can pick up during the course of the day.

We’ll likely start somewhere the Fraser Valley and make our way to Covenant House in downtown Vancouver.  We’ll announce those next week once we know how where our route will take us.

To request a stop-over, email [email protected] with Ford Clothing Drive as the title before end of day Friday, October 14th.   Please indicate how many items (roughly) you and your friends can donate, the nearest major intersection (along with your city) near your house, and whether you’ll be available on Saturday, October 22 for us to stop by.   We’d love to meet you! And yes, we can talk about blind riddles!

Below is a list of the items that are most in demand:

Urgent:

  • Men's Shoes/boots - sizes 10-13 or larger
  • Men's jeans and pants
  • Knapsacks
  • Socks
  • Underwear (new) for male and female


Clothing (all sizes and used are welcome):

  • Any "Teen style" clothing for men and women
  • Black dress pants
  • Black jeans
  • Construction boots (steel toe size 10 and up)
  • Hooded sweatshirts
  • Jeans (Levi's and other popular brands size 30+)
  • Rain jackets/ponchos/rain pants
  • Umbrellas
  • Women's dresses, dress shirts, blouses, suits and shoes


Ford of Canada will also be donating $5000 to Covenant House Vancouver when we cap off the drive at CHV on Seymour and Drake.   Huge thanks to Ford in advance for their generosity!

Winter clothing is always in great demand and there’s never enough of it.  So please look in your closets and let us know what you can donate.   And if you’d like more information about Covenant House Vancouver, visit them here.

Thanks in advance and I hope to meet you on October 22nd!