About

How it all started

Poverty Advocacy Nanaimo was founded in December 2023 by Sarah Pump.

Sarah had been an involved community member and worked professionally as a librarian for many years. Her life changed in 2021 when she was diagnosed with a chronic illness and was no longer able to work in the career that she loved. Already a single mother, Sarah was forced into poverty with her son, joining the countless others who depend on government benefits to survive.

Sarah has been able to use her research skills to locate a wide variety of programs available to low-income people. Maximizing use of these programs has significantly improved her standard of living.

Sarah was able to share about these opportunities while volunteering with other organizations in Nanaimo. She felt that the time was right to launch a platform focused on promoting helpful programs and organizations to low-income people in Nanaimo. Presenting PAN!

PAN was incorporated and registered as a non-profit under the name Nanaimo Poverty Advocacy Society #S0080343 on May 7, 2024.

Read more about PAN and what we are up to on our Media page.

Our mandate

Poverty Advocacy Nanaimo seeks to overcome barriers faced by people in poverty through sharing about available resources in Nanaimo.

We aim to improve accessibility of resources so that our low-income neighbors can improve their standard of living.

Currently, PAN is supporting this mandate through our programs.