Reverend George Kerby and former Medicine Hat Mayor Harry Veiner were very different people.
Kerby was a Christian, Veiner was born to a Jewish immigrant family; Kerby was from out east, where as Veiner was always a prairie boy. Kerby founded Mount Royal College; Veiner would be a tireless campaigner for small, Albertan towns.
If the two ever met, I’d imagine they’d have gotten along though. For all their differences, they were committed men. Men who believed in the power of a single person’s contribution to the whole.
It’s no wonder, then, that both have their names attached to non-profit senior centres. Both at Kerby Centre in Calgary and Veiner Centre in Medicine Hat, we truly believe we can make a change when it comes to improving the life of our older adult community.
Veiner Centre is celebrating two years of coming under our little umbrella. In September 2021, Kerby Assembly — the managing body of Kerby Centre — took over operation of the Veiner Centre. Just over a year after that, we changed the name of that governing body to Unison, for Generations 50+.
That’s a lot that’s happened in the past two years. When we’re talking about the history of Kerby Centre, the past 50 years and our future, we have to talk about the big changes we’ve made recently.
And I’ve gotten a lot of questions and curiosities, people wondering why we made the choice to do this or do that. And the answers to those questions might help us answer the big question we’ve set out on over these 50 weeks and 50 stories: what exactly is Kerby Centre?
To begin: Veiner Centre was established in the 70s just like Kerby Centre was, as a senior recreation facility. In 2020, the city of Medicine Hat put out a request for a new contract operator to handle the management of Veiner, as well as the Strathcona Centre in Medicine Hat.
Kerby was in the midst of trying our best to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, but this was a huge opportunity.
We wanted to take all the things that make Kerby Centre great and wanted to replicate them in another place. Who wouldn’t love that?
One of the first things we encountered were people in Medicine Hat wanted to keep the name. We couldn’t just call it Medicine Hat Kerby. The history of Veiner Centre was just as important as the history of Kerby Centre. We knew from the start, we needed to respect that.
But we also wanted to keep things straight when it came to naming them. Calling it the Kerby Centre Veiner Centre was just… going to be confusing. For everyone. So we decided to come up with a brand new name.
This is where Unison, for Generations 50+ was born.
Unison was founded with the same history, mission and philosophy that had made Kerby Centre such an incredible place for half a century. It kept alive the hopes and dreams of everyone from the original founders to every single volunteer that’s ever worked here.
The dream that we can make this world a better place for older adults. The hope that dream could come true, and the drive to see it through.
So, for those that still have any questions or curiosities: nothing about Kerby Centre has changed since we became Unison. All we did was make a bigger umbrella for the best things about us, so we can continue to help more and more people, across the province instead of just across the city.
I truly think Patricia Allen, our founding CEO, would be proud.
And how is Veiner Centre faring, now two years under our cozy little umbrella, with our hopes and dreams helping them?
The Meals on Wheels program Veiner runs is thriving. They’ve announced new programs, like Active Aging, Seniors Supports and Veiner Vintage Transport, things named after and following the same ideals as programs we’ve run in Calgary for years.
We’re getting closer to answering the question of what Kerby Centre is. I can feel it.
Because if we can take Kerby Centre outside of this building, bring it to an entirely different place and have it survive, grow and thrive? Then it has to be more than just these four walls. It’s something bigger than that. Way bigger.
We’ve spent 50 years creating something… big. A movement? An idea?
I don’t quite know yet. But as we approach the end of our jubilee, I know we’re getting close to an answer.