We're Celebrating 25 Years!
This year we proudly reach a milestone of having served the community for 25 years! Looking back at our humble beginning, it’s hard to believe how much we have grown over the years as we continuously responded and expanded to meet the needs of individuals and families in the North Okanagan.
The Family Resource Centre, as it is today, is the direct result of one common denominator: Compassion. We thank our dedicated staff, board, and volunteers who lead with this attribute every day, year after year. It’s the core of our culture at FRC and ultimately, what defines us.
The ongoing success of the Family Resource Centre is not ours alone, as we have many donors who quietly and generously support our vision and purpose with a compassion all their own. The Veaudry family is a perfect example of donors whose ongoing support directly impacts our clients.
Charlie and Cindy first reached out to FRC many years ago with a desire to sponsor a family over Christmas. They were looking for a tangible way to instill the core value of giving in their young children, and the journey that brought them to us is something they shared with others during the holiday season. Here is their story...
A Story of Giving
Posted on December 19, 2017 by Charlie Veaudry
When our daughters, Jess and Megan were six and three, we made a decision that our children would be home schooled. The reasons and thought processes behind that decision were varied and somewhat complex for us (and maybe good fodder for another blog story) but in the end that was what we decided and so began that journey.
It was an exciting journey with a wide range of outcomes and feelings about it through the entire time. In the end, all four of us are grateful that we made that decision. Jess and her sister Megan are all grown up now and living their own adult lives in Vancouver but they always remind us of how grateful they are that we did this as a family.
One of the most important lessons that we wanted to impart was the joy of giving. Both Cindy and I had strong concerns about the commercial messages that abound at this time of year. We wanted to make sure that the joy of receiving gifts was balanced with the joy of giving so we set about crafting a learning experience around this.
We had heard about a program at the Family Resource Centre where our family could anonymously adopt a family in need for Christmas. We would receive details about our adopted family and then prepare a gift package for them. Watching the girls’ excitement as they chose and wrapped the gifts all the while imagining the delight they would bring to this family from their act of giving was heart-warming. We did this for many years.
After the girls grew up and moved away, Cindy and I wanted to continue our support of the fine work at the family resource centre. Now every year, we pick up some gift cards from the Real Canadian Superstore and deliver them to the Family Resource Centre so that they can help families at Christmas and throughout the year.
Last year when we did this, we received a card of thanks that brought tears to my eyes. It helped me to understand the real joy and happiness that comes from giving in order to help someone who really needs it.