2025 Impact Report: The Story Behind The Numbers

Behind each number is a real human being. Seniors who have lived in scarcity for much or all their lives. Families facing devastating choices between buying groceries and paying rent. Companions who hand-deliver meals when one is bed-ridden to ensure no one misses a dinner.

Each day, the community at Squamish Helping Hands lives through the wins and losses behind the numbers in this report. Numbers don’t show someone’s child being saved by an urgent and skilled response to a toxic drug poisoning, the small smile of a homebound senior receiving a much-needed delivery from meals on wheels, or the way a chilled, wet person stops shivering after being wrapped in a warm, clean blanket.

Still, the numbers we work with are staggering and noteworthy, particularly if we understand the humanity behind them. In 2025, we were able to provide:

• 20,347 nights in transitional housing resulting in 70 people in safe, warm beds during winter nights when storms raged outside
• 23,505 free showers and 10,950 loads of laundry that provided clean, dry clothes and dignity for people living in exposed and vulnerable conditions
• 921 appointments with 350 unique patients at our primary care clinic which fostered better health outcomes and less pain for people with intense and painful medical conditions
• 152 reversals of toxic drug poisonings giving 152 people a second chance to keep moving forward
• 10,754 unique visits from individuals and families (average of 896 unique visitors/month) resulting in more than 900 people a month going to bed with full stomachs and parents able to sleep because their kids are not hungry

Taken together, these numbers and outcomes form a larger narrative. Our community—like the rest of the world—is facing a staggering and rapidly increasing discrepancy between the rich and the poor. There are at least 125 people experiencing homelessness in Squamish and over half lost their housing due to the rising cost of living. In 2025, we turned away 135 people due to a lack of beds. The Squamish Food Bank saw a 10 percent year over year increase in visits to the food bank.

It isn’t easy to navigate the pressing and complicated issues that continue to face us all. Our staff, volunteers, and participants at Squamish Helping Hands deal with the complexity, sorrow, resilience, and joy of working with the real people behind the hard numbers.

No day is easy and no solution is simple but hope continues to exist in the story behind the numbers. We count the numbers for our partners and our community to mark the power of the work we do in providing food, beds, and care. Using this data and the real, underlying results, we define and foster shared values, trust, and pathways towards a safe and healthy community for all.

Click here to download the full 2025 Impact Report