Through our Leadership Richmond - Youth Now program, high school graduates under the age of 26 are given an opportunity to serve as board members for local non-profit organizations. One of this year's participants, Alex Tse, currently sits on the board of the Richmond Family Place, and is already making her mark. She's helped the organization step up its social media presence, as evidenced by bustling Facebook and Twitter pages. Now, she's written a blog post on the Richmond Family Place and its Chair, Anne Murdoch. As Alex shows, in a community like Richmond, composed of people from all corners of the globe, the Family Place makes everyone feel at home.

 

The need for belonging and feeling grounded where you live is not a luxury that comes after worrying about food and rent – it’s essential for healthy families and thus also to healthy communities. And there are few community leaders better suited to addressing these societal needs than Anne Murdoch, Chairwoman of the Richmond Family Place.

As a lifelong volunteer, Anne has been involved in all areas of the Richmond community.

“I started off volunteering as a candy striper in the hospital when I was about 14 years old. And that led to me becoming a nurse, of course,” she says. As a mom with three kids, Anne has been everything from a Girl Guide helper and a sports league volunteer to the vice-president of the district’s Parent Advisory Council.

These experiences have allowed Anne to see firsthand how family issues are reflected in the Richmond community, especially issues pertaining to poverty and refugees.

“Those families that come as refugees haven’t come with money or funds typically of any kind so they’re living on government support,” says Anne. “As a public health nurse, I have seen parents who do not eat themselves so their kids can have dinner, children who cannot go outside and play in colder weather because they only have dollar store slippers or flipflops to wear and need rubber boots. These are all our children in Richmond and we don't want any of them to live in poverty.”

Anne is therefore a strong advocate of the idea that no family should be left behind. She speaks on behalf of marginalized families to ensure that they will feel valued and included. For instance, struggling families don’t ever have to pay anything to go to Family Place programs. But Anne is quick to correct me when I ask if Family Place is mandated towards poverty response.

“We do take our Play and Learn program out to the Food Bank, so the children are able to come over and have a little storytime while the parents are waiting in line to collect their food. The children enjoy going with their parents to the Food Bank; it’s a fun experience for them.

“That would be something that we would do that might help support low-income families directly, but mostly we just want to welcome and encourage all families whether finances are an issue for them or not. And that’s probably the strongest approach to take as well. We don’t want to label our families that are struggling. We want them to feel a part of the community and not feel ‘targeted’, if you will.”

 

The Richmond Family Place hosts an annual Breakfast with Santa. This year's event was attended by 150 parents, children, and grandparents.

For many parents, the sense of inclusivity and community fostered by the Richmond Family Place is a life saver when you’ve got very little children and only a few local acquaintances. As the Board Chair, it is Anne’s role to anticipate these community issues and to then to guide Family Place towards addressing these needs.

“I think for me it’s all about giving children all the opportunities,” says Anne. “[Some families] don’t have the money to go to ballet or dance classes or any of the higher level kinds of programs, but their children still deserve the best.”

The dedication of the Family Place volunteers and staff and the quality of the children’s and family programming reflect this ardent belief, making Family Place the vital community service that it is.