News & Stories

The DI Featured in Calgary Herald

December 11, 2025

Calgary Drop-In Centre President and CEO, Sandra Clarkson, had the opportunity to meet with the Calgary Herald to speak about our mission and the impact we’re making.

The Calgary Drop-In Centre is a housing-focused organization that provided support to more than 8,700 unique individuals experiencing homelessness last year. We know that the holiday season is often the coldest time of the year and the loneliest for our guests, and we work around the clock to show up for our guests the best we can.

The opportunity be featured with the Calgary Herald’s Christmas Fund is really meaningful, and you can read the full story here on the Calgary Herald’s website here.

Our goal this season, and all year long, is to help people end their homelessness and live a healthier life, housed.  

We anticipate that we will successfully rehouse over 500 individuals this year – permanently ending their experience of homelessness. On average we are housing over 50 people per month, but the unfortunate reality is that 150 new individuals are arriving at our doorstep. We need more affordable and deeply affordable housing with appropriate supports to tip the scales. 

We aim to rehouse people as quickly as possible, because our shelter is not a home, but a process to connect to services to end experiences of homelessness and support reintegration back into community as independently as possible. We also do our best to help reconnect people with their hometowns, families, and community, as illustrated in our latest short film, “I want to come home.”
 
This holiday season, we have an ambitious goal to raise $2 million dollars. These funds will go directly towards our critical programs, because without the DI, more than 1,000 people on any given day would have nowhere else to turn but public spaces. If you can, please join our mission and donate today.

Photography is credited to Gavin Young/Post Media.