Community. This is a word that Patricia uses a lot when she shares about the impact that United Way funded Ray-Cam Co-operative Centre, located in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood, has had on her family’s life. Your support is helping build this community. Patricia started attending this United Way-supported agency in 2010, bringing her then two-year-old son, Hayden, to the centre’s daycare. She was bravely forging her own path, having separated from Hayden’s father, and staff were there to support her through this transition. Their readiness to listen and help is something Patricia values to this day. “If you need to talk to any of the staff about anything, they’re all approachable,” she says. “All of them.” It was this support that Patricia turned to in order to recover from the loss of her son Nicholas. “Last year was our first year without Nicholas, the one year anniversary. It was hard. I was in a hole,” she says. The staff “helped me be able to talk about Nicholas. Before I wasn’t able to. I was just really closed in about him. Now I can actually say his name without bawling my eyes out.” Today, life is busy and full for Patricia. She’s greatly involved in the life of Ray-Cam, and has served on its Board of Directors, and on other community boards. She is also a proud mom to Hayden, Ellis, and now baby daughter, Lavina – as well as to her partner’s four kids. Her family – both literal and metaphorical – has grown. One of Patricia’s biggest hopes for her children is that they grow up to be “community people” that others can turn to for help. For herself, Patricia is intent on finishing school and dreams of one day becoming a community service worker. Her reason is simple: she wants to give back to her community. “Look at our neighbourhood,” she says. “We’re only four or five blocks away from Main and Hastings, one of the roughest places in North America. [Kids] are not trying to look down there. They’re staying here in this little community because of the funding. So [donors] are keeping our kids safe. They’re keeping our families safe. They’re keeping the single moms having hope, having some place to go.” “I just love coming here and I want my kids to grow up around here. It’s a community and Ray-Cam is what brings us all together.” United Way recognizes the unique needs of the families and children in this Vancouver neighbourhood. In June, Strathcona joined the United Way Avenues of Change initiative and will receive up to $285,000 over the next three years to build brighter futures for children in the community. Thanks to support from donors like you United Way Avenues of Change is able to help children succeed. Thanks to support from donors like you United Way Avenues of Change is able to help children succeed. 
United Way invests $285,000 for kids in Strathcona.
Topics : Uncategorized