What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm 6pm - 4:30pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm 6pm - 4:30pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm 6pm - 4:30pm Thursday 9am - 5pm 6pm - 4:30pm Friday 9am - 5pm 6pm - 4:30pm

Victoria Cool Aid Society

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Victoria, BC
Victoria Cool Aid Society

On Facebook Monday through Friday, 9-4:30, except holidays. We build homes, lives and community. In 1968, the Cool Aid Hostel opened its doors.

We create opportunities for people who are homeless or living in poverty. We make a difference through housing, health care, support and emergency shelters. Our mission was to provide short-term, emergency shelter to transient youth travelling the country. In 1972, we launched our first dental clinic. Throughout the 1980s, Cool Aid grew as one of British Columbia’s largest non-profit organizations

, with an increasing focus on the development of safe, affordable housing. Fifty years after our initial launch, Cool Aid has developed a successful reputation by creating accessible, affordable, and alternative housing programs and holistic health services for people who need it the most.

06/03/2026

A new music program is coming to Rock Bay!

Music can be a powerful tool for creativity, connection, self-expression, and well-being. To help make this program a success, we're looking for donations of musical instruments that can be used for learning, practicing, and creating together.

We're especially looking for:
- Acoustic, electric, or bass guitars
- Ukuleles
- Keyboards
- Amplifiers

If you have an instrument sitting unused and would like to help create new opportunities for our residents, we'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for helping us build a welcoming space where people can learn new skills, express themselves, and discover the joy of music.

To donate an instrument contact [email protected]

05/28/2026

You've been thinking about it.

What you'll leave behind. Who you'll leave it for. Whether the things you care about will still be cared for when you're gone.

Kevin's parents asked themselves the same question. So did the woman who walked through Sandy Merriman House's doors looking for a reason to keep going.

The answer doesn't have to be complicated. A gift in your will to Cool Aid — any size — means your compassion keeps showing up long after you're gone.

This Leave a Legacy Month, take one small step. Talk to your lawyer or notary. Let your kindness outlive you.

05/26/2026

Just a few years ago, Ian Cooper felt like his life was defined by “chaos and destruction.”

Today, he is a House Lead at Johnson Manor, our first recovery house, where 20 men are building the stability, structure and community needed for long-term recovery.

Ian was the first to apply and one of the first to move in. Now, as one of two House Leads, he helps other residents create a sense of purpose and connection that is central to recovery.

Every person staying at Johnson Manor contributes to the community by preparing meals, completing daily chores, attending recovery meetings, and participating in paid or volunteer work.

For Ian, the greatest motivation is his children. Johnson Manor's long-term (up to 24 months), substance-free model is giving him the time and space he needs to rebuild his life and becoming more present for his family.

This program is already changing lives but as Ian points out, if there were four more houses like it, they would all be full. The need for long-term recovery housing is immense, and every new space creates another chance for someone to heal and start over.

05/22/2026

Not every meaningful gift comes with a dollar sign. Food, clothing, hygiene supplies, professional services. They all help keep our programs running and our doors open across Victoria.

Curious what we're looking for right now? Our wish list is live and updated regularly at coolaid.org/in-kind-donations.

Thank you to everyone who shows up for our community in whatever way they can.

05/21/2026

More than 50 residents and staff came together last week to celebrate Crosstown’s first birthday.

Just over a year ago, 154 people moved into their new supportive and affordable homes on Burnside Road East. In that time, Crosstown has become so much more than housing—it's become a vibrant and welcoming community.

Happy first birthday, Crosstown!

05/20/2026

At Cool Aid, food security isn't just a value — it's something we live every day, serving hundreds of nutritious meals to our community's most vulnerable members. So when we heard about this event organized by one of our team members, we knew we had to get behind it.

On May 22nd, Green Valley — a stunning documentary about off-grid farm life on Cortes Island — screens at The Vic Theatre, with all proceeds going to the Compost Education Centre. The people at the Compost Education Centre are doing exactly the kind of work we believe in: building local food resilience and keeping organics out of landfills.

Tickets are $20 and every dollar stays in the community.

📅 May 22nd | 🕡 Doors 6:30 PM | 📍 The Vic Theatre, Victoria BC

🎟️ bit.ly/4cYkNj3

We hope to see you there.

05/19/2026

Legacies aren't built in a moment. They're built in what outlasts us.

Sandy Merriman knew what it was to be a woman with nowhere safe to sleep. In 1970s Victoria, no safe shelter for women existed. So, she helped build one.

She picked up the tools and helped raise the first shelter of its kind for women in this city.

Decades later, the shelter still stands. It still carries her name. And every woman who has found safety inside it, year after year, is part of what Sandy started.

That is what a legacy looks like. Not a plaque, but a door that keeps opening.

This Leave a Legacy Month, a gift in your will is your way of building something that outlasts you, too. It keeps the door open for the next woman, and the one after her, and the one after her.

05/12/2026

One day, the people we love will share stories about us.

Not what we owned. Not what we achieved. But how we made them feel — and what we stood for.

May is Leave a Legacy Month. A gift in your will to Cool Aid is one of the most powerful ways to say: I was here. I cared. And my compassion didn't stop when I did.

Learn how your story can live on: https://www.coolaid.org/make-a-gift/

05/11/2026

This National Nurses Week, we’re celebrating the extraordinary nurses at Cool Aid’s Community Health Centre.

Our nurses are the heart of our team. Working to an expanded scope of practice, they assess and treat patients, manage chronic conditions, provide harm reduction and wound care, support mental health and substance use treatment, and help connect people to the services they need.

In a single year, our nursing team provides nearly 20,000 patient encounters. Each month, they care for close to 500 people, many of whom face significant barriers to accessing healthcare.

Our nurses are also helping to shape the future of healthcare. Through world-leading research, particularly in the areas of hepatitis C and HIV, they are advancing new approaches to testing, treatment, and care that are improving outcomes locally and far beyond.

To all of our incredible nurses: thank you for the knowledge, compassion, leadership, and innovation you bring to the community every day.

05/10/2026

In celebration of Mother’s Day this year, the incredible staff at Fairway Woods organized a plant pot painting event for the women of the building — the chance to get creative, eat some homemade treats, and walk away with something beautiful, just for themselves.

Happy Mother's Day to all the inspirational women at Cool Aid.

Address

749 Pandora Avenue # 101
Victoria, BC
V8W1N9

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
	6pm - 4:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
	6pm - 4:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
	6pm - 4:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
	6pm - 4:30pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
	6pm - 4:30pm

Website

http://CoolAid.org/

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