Warrior Woman wins Courage to Come Back Award

Better at Home‘s Quesnel program coordinator Brenda Gardiner has won a 2014 Courage To Come Back Award in the social adversity category. Her harrowing story was featured in The Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province. Before she was five years old, Brenda Gardiner watched her mother be beaten to death by her drunken father. “It’s 50 years later,” said Gardiner. “I’m still saddened by that. It’s something you never forget.” But she was able to forgive and she said that was key to healing and eventually breaking the cycle of violence for her own children and to sharing her story to inspire others to do the same. “It’s imperative that you forgive,” said Gardiner to reporters. “When I was able to forgive my father, I was able to get some peace.” Over the years, Gardiner earned a reputation as a person who would stand up to racism and speak for those without a voice. She set up her own consulting firm Warrior Woman 5. She is active in her community. Not only does she coordinate United Way’s Better at Home Program in Quesnel out of the North Cariboo Aboriginal Family Program Society, she also volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life fundraiser and the Cariboo Chilcotin Aboriginal Training Employment Centre. Better at Home helps seniors stay in their own homes longer by providing non-medical support services. It is managed by United Way British Columbia and funded by the provincial government. Read about its first year in operation.