Two years ago, we thought of Kerby Centre as a place that offered programs and services for older adults.
Then March 2020 was upon us and we had to close down Kerby Centre.
For almost 50 years, 100 per cent of the programs for older adults happened in the Kerby Memorial Building. Overnight, a total of zero per cent of what we were provided was occurring in the building and we were doing many new things in different ways to support seniors and they all occurred outside of this building.
This past summer, we started operating Veiner Centre, Meals on Wheels and Strathcona Centre in Medicine Hat -again not inside the Kerby Memorial Building. We used to think of Kerby as a place — but it’s not.
It is a group of people: board members, volunteers and staff. Next year it will cost us over $5 million to support older adults in Calgary, Medicine Hat and Southern Alberta. Forty-three per cent of that money will come from the three levels of government.
The remaining 57 per cent of what it costs us to support older adults will come from people like you. The outreach we were able to offer during the Pandemic, the new Zoom and digital programs, the food rescue and Free bread Markets were all because of people like you.
This year’s Holiday Campaign was highly successful because of people like you — and this success means we will reach more older adults and provide more support than we have ever been able to.
We have had great corporate support in 2021 and we rely on this, however every week over half of the donations (more like 70 per cent most weeks) that come as cheques in the mail or donations on the website come from people who have bought an inexpensive membership at Veiner or Kerby Centre.
Many of these members give three to six donations in a year. We used to think people bought memberships because you could get discounts on the programs and classes we offer at Kerby and Veiner. But now we know that they become members to support and be part of a community of older adults in Alberta.
They buy a membership and donate to support people like you.
Figures are accurate as of time of publication.