The South Vancouver Seniors Network (SVSN)

The South Vancouver Seniors Network (SVSN)

SVSN is a community service provided by Marpole Oakridge Family Place (MOFP)

The South Vancouver Seniors Network is a relationship based collaboration of non-profit organizations supporting seniors in Marpole Oakridge and wider South Vancouver.

The Network connects seniors with municipal, provincial and federal resources for advocacy, referrals, safety, wellness, learning and self-actualization.

We support seniors through programs and education that promote health, safety, engagement, social and community connections. We also actively participate in ongoing research aimed at improving the well-being of older adults.

The SVSN Webinar

Join your host every Thursday at 10:30am – 11:30am Pacific Time 

Everyone, everywhere, is welcome!

Reoccurring Zoom meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89494000823?pwd=S0FCTERRSDhPWFM0L1pFYkJtZlhTdz09

Meeting ID: 894 9400 0823 
Passcode: 078061

To sign up for the weekly webinar, email reminders, offer to present, suggest a topic, or get help to access the webinar, please contact Andrea:

History of the Weekly Live Webinar

Every week since October 2019, except for summer breaks, the Webinar has engaged our communities with information, advocacy, and true stories. 

The Webinar has been hosted by Andrea Krombein (Marpole Oakridge Family Place) with Grace Hann (Jewish Seniors Alliance) since its inception. 

The early Webinars were information based. When the Pandemic arrived, bringing enormous loss of life, fear, economic hardship and harsh reality, worlds shrank and doors closed leaving seniors powerless and isolated. The Webinar hosts, Grace and Andrea, responded with emergency COVID-19 information in collaboration with the Office of MLA Michael Lee (Vancouver-Langara). 

As the pandemic grew, the narratives of human rights issues and isolation showcasing the vulnerability of seniors swept into focus and swelled.  Andrea and Grace responded by transitioning from information-sharing sessions to a participation/empowerment model for seniors to take control into their own hands and advocate for a better life. The Webinar mission is to connect seniors with government and community leaders and experts in real time, to open the way for seniors to challenge decision makers directly and access expert information and tools for community-directed change.  

The Webinar reach and roles: 

The Webinars are for anyone who would like to participate, city and country-wide. 

Community Knowledge and literacy:  The planned legacy of the Webinar is to create a knowledge archive of the contributions of many of the Webinar presenters and to maintain working relationships with the presenters, including following their research and supporting their initiatives by providing them the Webinar platform to reach seniors for continued engagement.      

Participant driven: We encourage our participants to drive the Webinar content. Six years in we see participants guiding content, making introductions, networking, and critiquing our work. 

Seniors involved in research: The Webinar actively supports seniors’ involvement in research serving the needs of seniors. We are honoured to work with several departments of the University of British Columbia, and with the Gerontology Departments of Simon Fraser University and Langara College, supporting research and sharing findings with participants. Webinar participants have taken part in research focus groups and interviews, growing our civic literacy and amplifying voices in our communities. 

Seniors’ safety: a key SVSN partner is the BC Community Response Network (BCCRN), a province-wide organization educating the non-profit sector and the public on how to recognize and respond to elder abuse, neglect and self-neglect. The Marpole Oakridge Family Place hosts the Marpole Oakridge BCCRN chapter and ensures that CRN content is continually embedded in the work of the Webinars.