A community is so much more than the roads and houses and parks that fill it from border to border; it's the people, the relationships and connections that they develop with one another, and the organizations that are there during the ho-hum of everyday life or step in during times of crisis.
So, too, is a family more than simply the people who happen to be related to one another - a family is the friends that become part of the circle, the neighbours, and co-workers who make life interesting, who are there to share in the celebrations, and support one another in the challenges.
The two concepts - community and family - are intricately woven with one another, and in countless ways, the Burnaby Family Life Institute has been making both better in this city for 40 years.
Though it was many years ago, I can still clearly recall my first interaction with this organization: I was meeting with a group of women in a simple room in the former Burnaby Heights Resource Centre - demolished last year - to talk to them about their experiences with one of the programs for a feature story for this paper.
The women couldn't have been more different - all ages and cultural backgrounds - but they had one thing in common: a passion and enthusiasm for the work being done inside that building.
They were bursting with stories to tell me, what they had learned, the impact it had had in their lives.
They had become part of a community and, as a result, part of a family - and the positive impact of that was visible in their words and on their faces.
"Here," they were saying to me, "is a place that matters. Here is a place that makes a difference."
I felt then, as I do now, that there aren't really the right words, no matter how hard you try, to properly describe what a place like the Burnaby Family Life Institute means to people, how it has allowed people to grow, learn and become better people, better parents and better caregivers, and how it has helped them assimilate in a new country or gain new skills.
Our story today about another family (see page 13) who have been helped by BFLI - and their efforts to give back in return - reminds me so much of
the women I encountered that first time. Monica Jenssen's message, if you boil it all down, is the same as theirs: Here is a place that matters; here is a place that makes a difference.
Like most community organizations, Burnaby Family Life Institute runs on an ever-changing budget - money comes to them via grants from the government or other agencies, subsidies from the city or school board, and the occassional private donation, but there's always uncertainty about what the funding will be like next month or next year. I'm neither an accountant nor a policy maker, I don't know much about writing proposals or getting grants, but having covered news and events in this city for many years now, I can say that every penny invested in this organization probably comes back ten-fold in benefit to the people who live here, in myriad ways we can't even begin to count. And they're not alone. Groups like South Burnaby Neighbourhood House, the community schools and others are all weaving the fabric that help build a community and our families. They deserve to be applauded and, as they do for residents of this city, supported so they can grow and flourish.
