Foundation for Recovery, Empowerment & Engagement

A chance to love again —
free,
from the chains of addiction.

Reaching out to those the system missed.

Richmond, BC · free-canada.org · Est. 2025

— The founding story

13 years.
Zero institutional support.
Hundreds of lives touched.

FREE grew from Truth & Love Cultivation Association — a registered BC society founded in Richmond in 2011 with one mandate: promote the Golden Rule in community, without barriers of race, religion, culture, or circumstance.

For thirteen years, its founder personally funded and executed every program — street outreach, cultural events, tech drives for seniors, feminine hygiene drives for homeless women experiencing addiction — without compensation and without institutional backing.

FREE is what thirteen years of grassroots community work looks like when it finally finds its full name and its proper size.

2011 Founded

13+ Years of service

100s Lives directly reached

2026 F.R.E.E. established

Richmond Home — Lower Mainland BC

— Lawrence Gaillard, Founder & Executive Director

The FREE Model

Four stages.
One purpose.

The Invitation

A peer messenger — someone who has lived it — comes to where you are. The invitation is felt before it is spoken.

The Place

A sanctuary prepared for your arrival. Clean, safe, dignified. A bed with your name on it. People who are glad you came.

The Withdrawal with Dignity

Medical support and constant human presence from people who have been through it. Care and love are the active ingredients.

The Return

You go back — not as who you were, but as a messenger. Carrying one invitation to one person you know is still out there.

FREE serves adults experiencing active addiction who are not connected to — or not ready for — formal treatment. We go to where they are. We bring them somewhere safe. We stay until they are strong enough to go back and bring someone else.

Richmond & Lower Mainland, BC · Launching 2026

Get Involved

Partners. Funders.
People who believe this can work.

FREE is currently in the process of federal incorporation and actively seeking founding partners, grant funding, and community allies in Richmond and the Lower Mainland. If this work speaks to you — reach out.

lawrence@free-canada.org

Full site launching soon. Founding vision document available on request.

A chance to love again —free,from the chains of addiction.

13 years.Zero institutional support.Hundreds of lives touched.

Four stages.One purpose.