Sid Bristow has been selling Vancouver’s street paper for 20 years. But until he took one of Megaphone’s writing workshop classes, he had never written for the magazine.

That changed last spring when Sid signed up for one of Megaphone’s writing workshop classes. There Sid learned basic writing and reporting skills and wrote ‘Welfare Wednesday’—a humorous account of waiting in line for a welfare cheque.

“Taking Megaphone's writing workshop showed me I have a story to tell,” says Sid. “It feels good knowing I can help people understand what it’s like to survive on the streets.”

Megaphone runs nine writing workshop classes in treatment centres, social housing buildings and community centres in the Downtown Eastside and downtown Vancouver and works with more than 100 people just like Sid every year—giving marginalized people in Vancouver an opportunity to tell their own stories in their own voice.

But in order to these voices strong, Megaphone needs to raise $12,000 this spring season.

With your support, we'll be able to fund new writing workshop classes, keep our current workshops running, publish the writers in the magazine and produce our annual Voices of the Street literary edition.

Please help us empower marginalized writers with a donation of $50, $100, $250 or even $500 today and ensure that these voices are heard across Vancouver.

Sincerely,

Sean Condon

Executive Director

Megaphone

P.S. Your tax-deductible donation to Hope in Shadows will help ensure that homeless and low-income people in Vancouver have a voice in our city.