Foundation for Recovery, Empowerment & Engagement

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

Reaching out to those the system missed.

Get InvolvedOur Story

Richmond, BC  ·  free-canada.org  ·  Federally Incorporated NFP  ·  Est. 2026

— 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.

01

The Invitation

A peer messenger — someone who has lived it — comes to where you are. Not a flyer. Not a referral form. A person who genuinely cares about your well being, extending a hand and saying: there is a way out and I will walk with you.

02

The Place

A sanctuary prepared for your arrival. Safe, dignified, warm. A place to recover and go through withdrawal with dignity — with human presence alongside you from people who have been exactly where you are.

03

The Empowerment

Who are you beyond the addiction? What were you made for? This is the deepest work FREE does. Not compliance. Not skills training. A genuine discovery of identity and purpose — the foundation no substance can take from you.

04

The Engagement

You go back out. Not as who you were — as a messenger. Carrying one invitation to one person you know is still out there. The cycle begins again. One person at a time.

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 Federally incorporated under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act 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.