Annual Report 2014 British Columbia
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ANNUAL REPORT 2014 BRITISH COLUMBIA SOS Children’s Village British Columbia 1 THE SOS BC IMPACT – LOOK AT US GROW! In 2013... in 2014... 32 25 Our expanded “Community Integrated 5 families and 25 children and youth Village” now consists of 11 families with called the Village home 32 children/young adults 20 53 20 kids went to camp 53 children attended camps 6 11 6 families were supported through 11 families benefited from Caregiver Support Services Caregiver Supports 48 84 48 children and youth received therapy 84 children and youth received free therapeutic services 137 284 137 children went to After School 284 children participated in our Learning Clubs After School Learning Clubs 27 34 27 youth in the Transition to 34 youth supported by Youth Workers Adulthood Program in the Transition to Adulthood Program 2 SOS Children’s Village British Columbia CODY’S STORY: REPAIRING DREAMS THROUGH TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD COACHING & COUNSELLING Meet Cody. He’s 19, and he’s full of ideas and dreams. He’s Because Cody’s childhood and adolescence had been so always been good at fixing things, and someday he’d like to disrupted, he never had a chance to learn the lifeskills that open his own automotive repair shop. But first, somebody most of us take for granted. With no one to show him how has to help Cody to fix his life. to set up a bank account, how to shop or cook healthy food, or to do the many other things that keep us going from day Because Cody is homeless. to day, Cody’s life quickly fell apart. He didn’t know where to turn for help, except the streets. With no education, and no skills, Cody doesn’t have much hope of achieving his dreams. And nineteen is awfully young Luckily, our Transition to Adulthood youth workers at SOS to have your hopes for the future destroyed. What Cody Children’s Village BC learned about Cody, and reached out needs most is for someone to be on his side. to help him. Katie, Stephanie, and Shayne, the trained SOS youth workers in the Transition to Adulthood Program, know how to help Cody. They can give him the support he’s been Because Cody’s childhood missing, and teach him the skills he needs. And they’ll make sure that he feels like he has hope – because hope for the and adolescence had been future is the most important gift of all. We want to see Cody achieve his dreams. so disrupted, he never In BC today there are thousands of young people who still had a chance to learn the need our help and support, even after they turn nineteen. At SOS Children’s Village BC, we know we need to reach lifeskills that most of us more kids like Cody. That’s why we’re expanding our Village to build independence suites for youth, where they can take for granted. start living on their own in a supported environment. The Transition to Adulthood program gives foster teens who are lost and struggling a positive start in life – helping them to We first met Cody only a few weeks ago. He’s a former foster finish school, find employment, get safe housing, and build kid, who spent his childhood being shuffled through a long a future. Because everyone deserves to grow up with love, series of government foster homes and group homes. When respect and security. he reached nineteen, the minimal government supports he had received ended. Now, he’s expected to fend for himself. Cody has no family, and now that he’s officially an adult, he no longer has a home. SOS Children’s Village British Columbia 3 MESSAGES FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD + THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Rene Aulinger Douglas Dunn President, Board of Directors Executive Director It is my pleasure to work again this year with an outstanding For the past 28 years, SOS Children’s Village BC has had team of Directors, a passionate team of professionals in our an identity crisis... but no longer. We may look small, but office and programs, and of course the many volunteers, donors, we’re discovering our strength, our voice, and our passion. and supporters of SOS Children’s Village British Columbia. SOS Children’s Village BC is a leading, grassroots, In 2014, we achieved a number of milestones. One key organization – backed by the largest non-governmental, non- achievement was the strong financial performance that denominational child development charity in the world. Our saw not only balanced operational books with six months BC Village is in the frontline of 2,365 SOS Children’s Village of operating reserves in place, but also $50,000 raised in programs worldwide that care for children and young people our Transition Suite Capital Campaign, allowing us to start whose families have been torn apart. construction. The Transition Suites are the first expansion of our Village in over ten years and we are looking forward In the spring of 2014, SOS Children’s Village BC launched to having all five suites up and running, as the need for this an intense media relations blitz. We sent reporters a press residential Transition to Adulthood program is so very high. release in an unusual format: a package containing Identity Crisis, a board game along the lines of Trivial Pursuit. It was During 2014, we joined SOS Children’s Villages Canada our way of saying, “We now know who we are, and we’re to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the founding of SOS discovering just how much we can do for BC’s foster kids. International, and our Transition to Adulthood program Keep your eye on us!” embraced an alliance with the Vancouver Foundation and other agencies under the “Fostering Change” banner. These At SOS Children’s Village BC, we are grassroots. We deliver alliances underscore one of our key strengths: partnering. As leading edge programming. We are committed to working a fully independent SOS Children’s Village, we work with the with other agencies, Ministries, and others to better the lives other two North American SOS Villages, Illinois and Florida, of foster children and youth at-risk. And we bring a lot to we have impactful participation in the EUNA (Europe North the table: a world of knowledge, experience, and expertise, America) SOS International Region, and we collaborate thanks to our international connections. We are excited with SOS International/Kinderdorf. A 2014 highlight was co- about working with our partners to make real change for hosting the EUNA Programming conference, held only for the BC’s foster children. second time ever in North America, and setting the agenda – Transitioning Youth – for the 2015 meeting in Estonia. In the coming year we will be restructuring our programs to ensure they meet the needs of foster kids and families. We are a supportive partner with other Social Service Thanks to our generous donors and our Thrift Stores, we are agencies. We focus on our unique offerings, and work not reliant on government contracts, so we can fund our own collaboratively to ensure that the maximum number of foster programs and lead by example. Stay tuned – 2015 will be an children receive the widest range of services with the least exciting year! amount of bureaucracy and redundancy. I cannot close without mentioning the heart and core of our To the Board, staff, volunteers, and donors of SOS Children’s organization: our Village Caregivers. Anne, Marilyn, Almar, Village British Columbia, I thank you for another wonderful Shirley, Shedion, Brian, and Jaol, thank you for opening your year of success and improvement in the lives of foster hearts and creating loving homes for children who may never children and their foster families. have experienced safety and support before. It has been my honour and privilege to work with and for you. Thank you to the incredible SOS staff and volunteers for helping our SOS BC children grow into caring, self-reliant adults. A YEAR OF CHANGE Rene Aulinger Chairman of the Board 4 SOS Children’s Village British Columbia ABOUT SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGE BC OUR VISION WHO WE ARE SOS Children’s Villages is the world’s largest non- Every child belongs to a family and governmental, non-denominational child development grows with love, respect and security organization. In the past 65 years, more than 550 Villages have been established in 134 nations. British Columbia is home to Canada’s only SOS Children’s Village. OUR MISSION We provide homes, a supportive SOS Children’s Village BC provides a community-based family care service to improve and sustain the quality of life community, and programs to help foster for foster children and foster families. Foster children are children and youth in need grow into frequently at risk of emotional disturbances, delayed social development and poor educational performance. Foster caring, self-reliant adults parents who raise these children require ongoing special resources and support. OUR VALUES SOS BC enhances the development and healing of foster Courage: We take action children by addressing their physical, social, emotional and Commitment: We keep our promises spiritual needs. We actively create opportunities, programs and services for children to become balanced, responsible, Trust: We believe in each other contributing members of society. We seek long term Accountability: We are reliable partners stability for the foster children and families in our Village, including a strong focus on transition to adulthood and family reunification programming. SOS Children’s Village British Columbia 5 2014 IN REVIEW We’re building better futures for foster children and youth at risk, through programs that give them opportunities to achieve their full potential and lead healthier, more productive lives.