|
Kitsilano craft shop provides peace of mind
By Cheryl Rossi-Staff writer
While Kitsilano celebrates Hippie Daze Aug. 19, a shop that's been on Fourth Avenue since 1969 will celebrate a milestone of its own. 3H Craftworks will mark 40 years of helping people with mental and physical disabilities make and sell crafts.
But its future remains uncertain.
Social service groups founded the Handicrafts for Homebound Handicapped Persons Society, or 3-H Society, in 1966 to encourage those living with physical and mental disabilities to remain active and earn money.
Health professionals had noted patients would do well in hospital but after discharge they would grow disheartened with few avenues to earn a living. As their savings dwindled, their conditions worsened.
The society provides individuals with training, support, materials, prototypes and equipment to create items for children and home wares. Tasks range from simple cutting and gluing to more complex sewing and knitting.
The Fourth and Arbutus shop bursts with colour. Sock monkeys, brightly patterned children's sun hats, felt character story boards and more fill the shelves along with a cabinet of baby blankets knit by one client in her 90s. At Christmas the season comes alive with festive stockings, advent calendars and tree decorations.
3H's 70 participants are paid upon completion of their work. The shop's staff and 50 volunteers market and sell the items.
Rose Poon has sewn toys, doll and children's clothes for 3H Craftworks for four years. This woman in her 30s struggles with schizophrenia and enjoys the creative outlet and extra income her involvement provides. She has taken sewing courses in the past and enjoys learning new technical skills through the projects 3H gives her.
"The more I do the happier I get," she said. "It's something that I enjoy doing so that helps. You learn about time management and some problem solving on certain projects."
It also gives her an extra $100 to $400 a month depending upon how much work she's given and how she's feeling that month. Participants complete projects at their own speed and earn an average of $80 a month.
The society was renamed 3H Craftworks in 1997. The three H's stand for health, hope and human potential.
But as the society has neared middle age, its financial health has become a grave concern.
A couple of years ago most of the buildings on both sides of the street were torn down for redevelopment. During the construction, the foot traffic on the street departed.
3H receives a grant from Vancouver Coastal Health and money from the B.C. Gaming Commission, but during the construction year the commission put funds on hold, which effectively caused the non-profit to lose a year of money. The organization is struggling to make up its losses.
As rents and taxes increase along the busy-again stretch of Fourth, executive director Cathy Madsen hopes 3H Craftworks will remain there. She said its landlord gives them a small rent break and that the Kitsilano community supports the store.
As soon as Madsen places a sign calling for volunteers in the window, they walk through the door. And its location near Capers in a neighbourhood that generally does not support big box stores means they attract shoppers with a social conscience, she said.
"There are people more and more all the time who are interested in buying because they're doing good," she said.
3H Craftworks sells its goods at the Christmastime Circle Craft fair at the downtown convention centre, fills contracts with organizations including the Early Childhood Educators of B.C. and sells its handicrafts online.
During Hippie Daze, which runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 19, the shop is selling tie-dyed tops for adults and children, raffle tickets and will offer body painting and colouring contests.
published on 08/11/2006
| 
