Regina REALTORS donated $5,000 to the North Central Family Centre on Oct. 25, adding to the more than $100,000 they have donated over the past decade.
Gord Archibald, of Regina REALTORS (ARR), says they started this partnership 13 years ago. “The thinking at the time was to do something in the North Central area of the city. The work that the Centre does in there is needed, necessary work and something that benefits the community. So that’s the reason we picked it at the time and we’ve continued with it since then.”
Sandy Wankel, Executive Director at the North Central Family Centre, says long-term support means a lot to the centre. “It gives us access where we can in turn help other families, but it’s also just having that moral support and having that personal relationship.”
Alice Ewenin is a member of the North Central community who has been deeply impacted by the Centre’s work. “They built me up,” she says. “They have taught me and showed me that I’m worth something more than what I grew up with.
“They showed me how to lift up my head and look and not walk around with my head down all the time, scared to look around me.
“They’re my family, and I don’t have a family except for my children, so the Centre is part of my family and without this I would’ve been dead a long time ago. They’ve always encouraged me.”
Wankel explains how helpful this funding is to families like Ewenin’s, particularly to the youth. “These [youth] are our future leaders in North Central and any time that you can teach them to take a leadership role and to take pride in their community, take pride in their families, and build this self-confidence and self-respect that they have for their community, then I think it’s a win-win.
“The ARR, with such a long-term commitment and investment in the community has been amazing,” she says. “That moral character that they’re helping to build…in these young people, that’s where it’s going to really change for the future.
“So many of the realtors themselves come in and we’ve gotten to know so many of them,” Wankel says. “It’s their commitment and their investment in the families we work with.”
