About Our Founder

John Volken is the visionary force behind Welcome Home. His experience of living in an orphanage as a youth became one of the most positive influences in his life because it was the seed that grew to become Welcome Home. At the age of 18 John immigrated to Canada from Germany with less than $100.00 to his name, but with great enthusiasm for his new country. He started his climb from rags to riches as a dishwasher, farm laborer, and construction worker. When he became comfortable with the English language, John found his niche in sales and business. Having no experience in retailing, he opened a small second hand furniture store in 1981 and built it into one of the largest retail furniture chains in North America, with 148 locations and annual sales reaching over $200-million. For his accomplishments, John has received many awards, including “Entrepreneur of the Year” for Canada’s Pacific Region in 1995.

Having achieved his financial goal, John remembered his time in the orphanage and his dreams to one day make a difference in the lives of those in need. He searched for areas of social neglect, and in 1995 began meeting with countless advocates of the disenfranchised community. All voiced the need for long term, residential based treatment facilities, which would teach life and job skills to addicts and alcoholics or any dysfunctional members of society. For 8 years John visited and researched such facilities in the United States and Europe.

In 2004 he sold his furniture business to direct his wealth and talent as a ‘social entrepreneur’. Within a year he established a life skills academy in Seattle, WA and in Vancouver, B.C., which he named “Welcome Home”.

John has been questioned numerous times about this undertaking.
Here is one of his answers:
“The other day a student screwed up….that’s expected. It gave me an opportunity to spend some time with him. After our ‘heart to heart’ we hugged and I told him, ‘I love you’. He responded with tears and said ‘My father never said that to me….and how can you love me after all the stupid things I have done?’ I re-assured him that all the stupid things were behind him and “…you are now on your way to a new life, that is what Welcome Home is all about.” Similar events happen all the time at Welcome Home. There are tears, there are laughs, there is hope, there is struggle, there is change…those incredible changes followed by a whole new life with the ability to handle challenges and obstacles, to have a career, a home, a family …it’s incredible! Everyday I am grateful to God for the opportunity to be part of this immense, but gratifying struggle nurturing successful and happy lives. Yes, yes, yes…it’s all worth it!”