After our busiest month of the year and as we head into the summer months with more relaxed rules about protecting ourselves from COVID, I can’t help but reflect on the last two and a half years. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to all the volunteers, administration, management, mentors, coordinators, and board of directors of the BC CRN for being so responsive to people’s needs, which became so acute in all our communities. Being locked down and isolated caused folks to become much more vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.
You have seen all the statistics and have followed the activities of our Community Response Networks (CRNs) during the pandemic, and I am thrilled by the response throughout the province. This June 15 – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day – showed how connected and proactive our CRNs are. There were purple lights and purple shirts showing up EVERYWHERE.
We also tied BC’s WEAAD in with the national theme: Rights Don’t Grow Old and were a big part of the campaign, with Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO), the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (CNPEA), and CanAge, to pledge support for building the awareness of abuse, neglect, and self-neglect. It was great having a national presence and being able to boast about how supportive our provincial government has been for the past 11 years in so generously funding our work. We are shining the light and leading the way throughout the country.
I hope that many of you were able to attend our Annual General Meeting on June 23. We extended heartfelt gratitude to our volunteer board members, including Janice Cunningham who took on the chair position partway through the year. She is leaving the board after serving for the maximum six years. We are also delighted that Susan McIntosh will take on the chair position for 2022 – 2023. Many of you may remember that Sue was on the board in the 2000s and she is now retired from her over 40 years leading the Seniors Come Share Society (now Brella) in Surrey. Dawn Hemingway from Prince George is assuming the Vice-Chair position. (For more information on our Board of Directors, please view their profiles on the BC CRN website.)
Thank you all for your ongoing support of the important work that we do.
(Header Photo: Sherry Baker, BC CRN)
