For people experiencing poverty and homelessness, the obstacles standing in the way of positive life changes can feel insurmountable.

Everyone needs opportunities for meaningful work — to earn an income, feel valued, and participate in community. This fall, Megaphone and Hope in Shadows will be celebrating thirteen years of providing meaningful work to people who are homeless and low income in Vancouver and Victoria.

 Join Megaphone, along with civic treasure and former City of Vancouver Homeless Advocate Judy Graves, and prominent members of the social enterprise community, for the second annual Megaphone breakfast on Tuesday, November 3rd at the beautiful Alice MacKay Room at the Vancouver Public Library.

This event will bring together the Megaphone and Hope in Shadows community - vendors, supporters, and partners — to recognize the role of social enterprise in building strong communities and creating positive change. We'll celebrate our accomplishments and talk about our vision for the future as Megaphone grows.

This event is worth waking up early for -  comedian and actor Pat Kelly of CBC's This is That will be our host, and help us highlight the work of vendors in our communities. We'll also award one hard-working vendor the honour of Vendor of the Year. For this year's event, we are delighted to be joined by Judy Graves, who was the City of Vancouver's Homeless Advocate for more than two decades, for a lively conversation.

We acknowledge that this event is taking place on unceded Coast Salish territories.

We hope you can join us!

P.S. Check out photos from last year's Breakfast here!

What to expect - FAQs

Schedule: Doors will open at 7:00am — please join us for a cup of coffee! The Breakfast will be served buffet-style at 7:30 sharp, and the program will wrap up by 9:00am.

Food: We're excited to be serving guests a breakfast buffet catered by DTES social enterprise Potluck Cafe and Catering - complete with eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, and tomatoes.

Social Media: Follow us @MegaphoneMag and join the conversation! Tag your posts with the hashtag #changethatworks to enter to win a prize pack.

Tax receipts: We can issue tax receipts for any donations made at the event (please address cheques to Hope in Shadows).  We cannot issue tax receipts for event tickets.

Sponsorship: If you or your organization is interested in joining with our visionary sponsors to support this event, please contact [email protected] to see our sponsorship package.

Accessibility: The Alice MacKay Room at the Library Square Conference Centre is fully wheelchair accessible. Please contact us if you have any questions or require any further specifications on accessibility. We'd be happy to provide more information as needed.

Transportation and Parking: 

Parking: The entrance to the parking garage is on Hamilton Street (near Robson Street). This Easy Park parking garage is pay parking, and is accessible 5 am to Midnight, 7 days a week. There are specially designated handicapped parking stalls beside doors to the elevators in the parking garage below the library building. 2 hour meter parking is available around Library Square.

Transit: There are several Skytrain stations close by -- “Stadium–Chinatown” and "Granville" on the Expo and Millennium Lines, and "Vancouver City Centre" on the Canada Line.

 By bus, take the 17, or 20 along Richards Street, or the 4, 6, 7, 10, 14, 16, 50 along Granville Street. Get off at the Georgia St stop and walk East along Georgia St to the Library.

• HandyDart drop off on Hamilton Street between Georgia Street and Robson Street. The drop off is designated "Passenger" zone

Bike: the library is on the Painted Shared-Use Bike Lane on Homer Street. Bike racks are located on the left of North entrance, and on the far left of the South entrance.

Is my registration/ticket transferrable? Yes! If you are unable to attend and you would like to transfer your ticket, please get in touch with us so we can confirm your guest's name for our guest list.