Verdann – a changed life
“My life is pretty awesome,” says 25-year-old Verdann. Growing up, it wasn’t always that way.
Between the ages of five and 13, Verdann bounced between her Mom’s place in Prince George, her grandparents’ home in Kamloops and various group homes across BC. Much of the time she was in the care of the BC Ministry of Children and Families.
In Grade 7, when home didn’t feel safe, Verdann escaped to the streets. “I was sleeping on the streets, sleeping outside,” she says. Along with being dangerous – it made it really hard to go to school.“I genuinely believed I wasn’t going to live to where I am today,” she says.
Connecting through an after-school program
When you’re vulnerable, the right connection can save your life. For Verdann, it was an after-school program which helps Aboriginal, new immigrant and inner-city kids grow their self-confidence, develop social connections and learn new skills through energetic games, circus arts and other physical activities.
Today, Verdann is a youth coordinator at the United Way-funded Red Fox Active Play after-school program in North Vancouver. The weekly program is funded through United Way’s School’s Out Initiative, which provides school-age children in some of the Lower Mainland’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods with healthy and safe activities when they are not in school.
But it is so much more than fun and games. Programs like this help vulnerable kids find connection, stability and a path to employment, minimizing their risks of suicide, addiction and poverty.
“United Way funding has allowed us to develop programs in North Vancouver that we could have never developed,” says Emma Sutherland, Executive Director of Red Fox Healthy Living Society. “There was incredible buy-in from the community because they knew we wouldn’t be gone in three months. We’re going to be staying and building on each success.”
“I genuinely believed I wasn’t going to live to where I am today. ”
Right now vulnerable kids are still lingering on after-school wait lists.
The right connection could save their lives. Could it be you?
Helping kids grow up great
This means leaders like Verdann, who understand the realities of kids’ lives better than anyone, especially children of First Nations families struggling with the multi-generational trauma of Canada’s residential school system, are able to share their experience, empathy and understanding with kids in North Vancouver.
“If we’re always just seeing people who are down or upset or sad as a kid you’re going to internalize that. This is what the world is like and that’s not necessarily how it is,” Verdann says. “There’s a lot of beauty and a lot of really good stuff in the world. Good role models from all different backgrounds are really good to have.”
This preventative approach works and saves money. Research shows every $1 spent supporting disadvantaged kids results in a $6 return on investment later.(1)
Verdann once thought she might not to be alive today. Now she’s inspiring future generations of Aboriginal kids like Taj and helping them grow up great.
(1) The “Heckman Equation” by James Heckman, Nobel Laureate in economics.
“There’s a lot of beauty and a lot of really good stuff in the world. Good role models from all different backgrounds are really good to have”
Send a note of encouragement to Verdann and Taj
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