CEO & Founder of @BeTheChangeYYC homeless outreach program. Homelessness-housing, poverty & human rights advocate (He/Him) 🇨🇦🏳️🌈
Calgary, Alberta
Joined April 2019
- Tweets4.7K
- Following1K
- Followers1.5K
- Likes6.5K
👇How do you say tax season is coming, without saying tax season is coming 😂
❤️ #ThankfulThursday
Support volunteer-powered street outreach in Calgary before year-end.
Give through PayPal Giving Fund Canada:
✅ Official charitable tax receipt
✅ No transaction processing fees
✅ Local impact
Donate: paypal.com/CA/fundraiser/cha…
#YYC
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Chaz Smith retweeted
From sleeping rough to helping others on Calgary’s streets. 🧡
Every person has a story worth hearing.
Meet Graham, a BeTheChangeYYC street outreach volunteer who shares his personal experience of homelessness, the lessons he’s learned, and why he now gives back to others facing similar challenges.
🎥 Our first #HearTheirVoicesYYC interview premieres October 26 at 1:00 PM on YouTube!
Through honest conversations, we’re challenging stigma, breaking down misconceptions, and showing the people behind the statistics.
This is just the beginning.
❤️ Help us bring Graham’s story to more Calgarians.
Watch the trailer, share this Reel, and tap Notify me on YouTube so you don’t miss the premiere.
🔗 youtu.be/iSeYaq6XLx0
Because every voice matters. Every story deserves to be heard.
#HearTheirVoicesYYC #BeTheChangeYYC #Calgary #HomelessnessAwareness #StreetOutreach
Help support BeTheChangeYYC by donating or retweeting. paypal.com/donate/?hosted_bu…
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Was great to hang out with the team @BeTheChangeYYC yesterday!
#LoveYYC
❤️🍁 Happy Thanksgiving, Calgary! 🦃
While many are gathering with family and friends this holiday weekend, our incredible BeTheChangeYYC volunteers are hitting the streets tonight to support our neighbours experiencing homelessness. 💛
☕ A special thank you for the generous donations of hot coffee, cookies, sweet treats, and sandwiches! These thoughtful contributions help us bring a little extra warmth, comfort, and kindness to those who need it most.
We’re so grateful for our amazing team of volunteers and everyone in our community who continues to support our mission. ❤️
Because everyone deserves to feel cared for, especially during the holidays.
From all of us at BeTheChangeYYC, Happy Thanksgiving, Calgary! 🧡🍂
🌐 BeTheChangeYYC.org
#HappyThanksgiving #Calgary #HomelessOutreach #CommunitySupport #VolunteerYYC
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Chaz Smith retweeted
🍁 This Thanksgiving, We’re Thankful for the People Who Make Change Possible. ❤️
Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude, community, and coming together. But for thousands of Calgarians experiencing homelessness, the holidays can also be a reminder of just how difficult life on the streets can be.
At BeTheChangeYYC, we’re reminded every day that a little kindness can make a big difference.
❤️ To our incredible volunteers: Thank you for showing up, rain or shine, through freezing temperatures, long evenings, and challenging circumstances. Your compassion, dedication, and willingness to help others are what make our work possible.
❤️ To our donors and community supporters: Every contribution helps us bring food, water, clothing, essential supplies, first aid, and meaningful connections to people who need them most.
❤️ To the people we serve: Thank you for trusting us, sharing your stories, and reminding us why compassion, dignity, and human connection matter.
Our outreach is about so much more than handing out supplies. It’s about building relationships, restoring hope, and making sure people know they haven’t been forgotten.
🍂 This Thanksgiving, let’s remember that everyone deserves kindness, dignity, and a place to belong.
As temperatures drop and winter approaches, the need for support continues to grow. Together, we can make a difference, one person and one act of kindness at a time.
🧡 Help us keep showing up for Calgary’s most vulnerable.
🙏 Donate: bethechangeyyc.org/donate
From all of us at BeTheChangeYYC, Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁
#HappyThanksgiving #CommunityOutreach #HomelessnessAwareness #GivingBack #CompassionInAction #Thankful
Chaz Smith retweeted
New BeTheChangeYYC data comparing July to September 2026 with the same period in 2025:
⬆️150% rough sleeping
⬆️359% detox/treatment referrals
⬆️591% mental-health
⬆️139% medical
⬆️40% housing
⬇️11% overall contacts
Full briefing: BeTheChangeYYC.org
🤖 Made with AI
Witnessing a mental health crises, overdose, or severe distress is difficult for all members of the public. Including the person experiencing it. That’s why team BeTheChangeYYC should be important to Calgarians.
Street outreach is complex.
We meet people where they are, help stabilize immediate needs and connect people to housing, detox, treatment and other supports.
We also recognize that public spaces belong to everyone.
Our role is to support the person in front of us while helping create a safer, more compassionate Calgary.
💙 bethechangeyyc.org
#BeTheChangeYYC #Calgary #StreetOutreach #Homelessness
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Chaz Smith retweeted
What is important is not so much how long you live as whether you live a meaningful life. This doesn’t mean accumulating money and fame, but being of service to your fellow human beings. It means helping others if you can, but even if you can’t do that, at least not harming them.
Chaz Smith retweeted
NEW: Calgary city council has voted 14-1 in favour of affirming Calgary's place as a vital part of Alberta and Canada - a motion from Mayor Jeromy Farkas.
Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson was the sole vote against.
Chaz Smith retweeted
💙 99 people reached in one Saturday outreach shift.
Yesterday, Team Lead Garth and volunteers Hilal, Signe, Luke, Islam and Syeda were out along Stephen Avenue in downtown Calgary.
During the shift, our team recorded 45 referrals and resource connections:
🏠 6 Housing
🛏️ 7 Emergency shelter
🥪 14 Food resources
🪪 7 ID clinic
❤️ 3 Detox/treatment
💙 2 Harm reduction
🧥 4 Clothing resources
🧠 1 Mental health
🩺 1 Medical
We also connected with 8 people sleeping rough, while distributing food, water, clothing, hygiene products, naloxone and other essential supplies.
Street outreach is about meeting immediate needs, building trust and helping people connect with the supports they need to move toward health, safety and housing.
Thank you to our incredible volunteers and everyone who helps keep our outreach teams on the streets. 💙
BeTheChangeYYC.org/donations
We’ve hit $1,140! ❤️🎟️
A huge thank you to everyone who has bought tickets or shared our Labour Day 50/50. The winner is already taking home $570 - the other half supports @BeTheChangeYYC’s frontline street outreach.
Just 4 days left!
🎟️ rafflebox.ca/raffle/labourda…
#BeTheChangeYYC #YYC #YYCCommunity
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Chaz Smith retweeted
🏳️🌈 Come visit BeTheChangeYYC at the Pride Market today!
Stop by our booth and:
🌈 Get a BeTheChangeYYC Pride button by donation
🎟️ Watch our Labour Day 50/50 jackpot grow live
❤️ Learn more about the important work we do supporting people experiencing homelessness in Calgary
👋 Meet our team and say hello!
Every button, raffle ticket, donation and conversation helps us continue meeting people where they’re at and connecting them with essential supplies, support and pathways forward.
We’d love to see you today! 🏳️🌈❤️
#CalgaryPride #PrideYYC #BeTheChangeYYC #YYC #Calgary #CommunitySupportingCommunity
Street outreach matters - because those so the truth of the matter …
This is why programs like BeTheChangeYYC are so important.
We help keep people alive, supported and well enough until the services they need become available.
The sad reality is that many people experiencing homelessness do want help. But housing, detox, treatment, mental health care and other critical supports can be weeks or even months away.
People still need food, water, hygiene, clothing, medical supports, advocacy & human connection while they wait.
That gap matters. Survival matters.
We meet people where they are and help keep them connected to a path forward until the next door opens.
#streetoutreach #healthcare #yyc
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There may be a truth worth discussing in here: people are frustrated, poverty is expensive, and systems are failing.
But folks are wasting their time sending hate my way. @BeTheChangeYYC is volunteer-driven, lived-experience-led, and focused on immediate care.
Insults won’t house or feed anyone. Solutions will.
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👉 120 million to 170 million.
Could Alberta’s referendum cost taxpayers an amount approaching 10% of what the province spends in an entire year on its Disability Income Assistance program?
(which now encompasses both AISH & ADAP)
#ABLeg #alberta #socialservices
🤖 Made with AI
