PLEA wins $1-m VanCity award.Vancouver--PLEA Community Services Society of BC won the $1-million Vancity Award for its mentoring program for young people vulnerable to crime, addiction addiction: see drug addiction and drug abuse. and exploitation. The program is for children aged 6+ who are vulnerable to high-risk activity, such as problems at school, associating with the "wrong crowd," attracting police attention, being in and out of foster care, demonstrate negative attitudes, or be uncommunicative. Many have engaged in criminal activity, but are too young to be charged. Through the program, the children are matched with adult volunteers who build a relationship with them, act as positive role models, and help them build self-esteem and get on the path to success. The funds will be used to purchase a site for a KidStart Mentoring Centre, program expansion in Greater Vancouver and for the expansion of the program to Victoria and Campbell River. The centre will bring all of KidStart's Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is the name that residents of British Columbia apply to the region surrounding the City of Vancouver. According to the 2001 census, over 2.2 million people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there services under one roof, allowing them to hire additional staff to support the training of volunteers and the matching of volunteers and young people. The centre will also act as a resource and reference centre for best practices in mentoring programs for at-risk children. The program is expected to help thousands of children. . Vancity, Canada's largest credit union, established the award to support the social, environmental and economic well-being of the community. The award, the largest corporate gift of its kind in Canada, is available to non-profit groups in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley Fraser Valley is the section of the Fraser River basin in southwestern British Columbia downstream of the Fraser Canyon. The term is sometimes used to refer to the Fraser Canyon and stretches upstream from there, but in general British Columbian usage the term refers to the stretch and Victoria areas of British Columbia British Columbia, province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada. Geography . The funds for the award come from a percentage of Vancity profits set aside each year for community initiatives. PLEA was chosen from four finalists by Vancity members who voted by ballot, online and over the phone. The other three finalists included: the Crisis Intervention crisis intervention Psychiatry The counseling of a person suffering from a stressful life event–eg, AIDS, cancer, death, divorce, by providing mental and moral support. See Hotline. & Suicide Prevention Suicide prevention is an umbrella term for the collective efforts of mental health practitioners and related professionals to reduce the incidence of suicide through proactive preventive measures. Centre of BC for expansion of its groundbreaking www.youthinbc.com program; the Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845) was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to make the treatment prisoners more humane, and she was Society of Greater Vancouver for the creation of a centre for children of offenders; and Our Place for the construction of a new centre for Victoria's disadvantaged. www.plea.bc.ca. |
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